George Soros revealed as key funder in big-money campaign to thwart Brexit

George Soros is one of the big funders behind a campaign to quash the 2016 Brexit vote.

 (AP)

Left-wing billionaire George Soros is pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign looking to sabotage British voters’ 2016 decision to leave the European Union.

The U.K. Daily Telegraph first reported late Wednesday that Soros has delivered £400,000 ($560,000) to the anti-Brexit “Best for Britain” campaign via his Open Society Foundations.

He also hosted big-money donors at his London home as part of the group’s goal to raise support to nix the implementation of the Brexit referendum.

Best for Britain is currently led by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown — a fomer diplomat and U.N. deputy secretary-general — and is reportedly planning a massive ad campaign to push for a second referendum to make voters rethink the decision to leave the E.U.

“George Soros’ foundations have, along with a number of other major donors, also made significant contributions to our work,” Malloch-Brown told Reuters. He also confirmed that the £400,000 number was accurate.

Open Society Foundations said that the funding for Best for Britain was one of a number of Brexit-related grants the organization had made, including a £182,000 grant to European Movement U.K.

“Human rights protections, hard-won civil and labor rights, safeguards on key issues such as clean air or food standards are at stake here for British citizens,” Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said in a statement. “It is essential that they are informed and empowered to make decisions about the future relationship between the U.K. and the E.U.”

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“The Open Society Foundations support British groups striving to ensure that this crucial debate is not shut down. A fundamental principle of open societies is that people get to decide how they are governed, knowing exactly what they stand to gain and what they stand to lose,” Gaspard, a former Obama White House political affairs director, said.

Soros has used his financial muscle for years to push left-wing causes across the globe. In Davos, Switzerland, last month, Soros said his Open Society Foundations is funding more institutions in the U.S. to ensure a Democratic victory in November.

The Telegraph reports that Best for Britain is planning mass rallies, concerts, “guerilla marketing tactics” and efforts to pressure MPs into voting against a Brexit deal once negotiations are complete so as to trigger either a second referendum or a general election to oust Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government in favor of one led by hard-left Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure over her handling of Brexit.

 (AP)

The revelation will serve to fuel fears from pro-Brexit Britons that there is an international campaign of elites from Brussels to London looking to quash the 2016 result. Nick Timothy, a former May chief of staff, said the news was a “wake-up call” to Brexiteers. 

“Elitist Remainers are plotting to bring down the government,” he wrote.

Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage made a similar call, saying he was glad Britain was finally talking about the influence of Soros, tweeting: “Time to wake up.”

Unease has been growing among the Brexit camp after the euphoria of the summer of 2016 has died down. The government’s negotiations with Brussels have become increasingly rocky, with the E.U. taking a hard line as negotiations heat up ahead of Britain’s departure from the bloc in 2019.

E.U. officials have likely been buoyed by increasingly vocal pro-Remain sentiment among Britain’s political and media elites.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been unapologetic in his calls for Britain to stay in the bloc, has been among the many high-profile voices calling for a potential second referendum, describing it not as an exercise in frustrating the will of the voters, but a chance for voters to “think again” once the terms of the deal are set.

PRO-EU ELITES TRY TO MAKE BRITS VOTE AGAIN ON BREXIT AS ‘DIVORCE’ TALKS HEAT UP

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for a Brexit do-over.

 (Reuters)

“Once we know the alternative, we should be entitled to think again, either through Parliament or an election or through a fresh referendum, which will, of course, not be a rerun of the first because it will involve this time a choice based on knowledge of the alternative to existing E.U. membership,” he wrote in a piece for The New Statesman last month.

But while some polls have suggested that Brits may be open to thinking again, others say the opposite. Leaders on both sides of the fight seem to acknowledge that the mood in the U.K. is that the government should see through the referendum.

“[P]ublic opinion remains consistent,” Timothy said in an analysis for the Telegraph. “There has been no sudden movement against Brexit, despite an ongoing campaign against it and criticism of the government’s negotiating position.”

“I think people are changing their minds,” the pro-Remain Malloch-Brown said in a BBC interview last month, before conceding that “they haven’t changed it as dramatically as I would like to see.”

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Kelly Was Alerted on Porter’s Past, Sources Say

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly knew that President Donald Trump’s staff secretary had issues in his past possibly impeding a permanent security clearance before news reports this week on domestic violence allegations against the aide, people familiar with the matter said.

A deputy chief of staff, Joe Hagin, was concerned that Rob Porter hadn’t yet passed a background check more than a year into his tenure and briefed his boss, Kelly, the people said. Porter continued in his high-level job while his bosses waited for the conclusion of the staff secretary’s security clearance investigation, the people said.

Kelly and Hagin didn’t know the specific allegations against the staff secretary, the people said. Kelly asked Hagin a few weeks ago to dig deeper into why there had been delays in background checks of certain key staff, including Porter. Meanwhile, the Porter that Kelly and other top staff saw every day at the White House was excellent at his job and cordial to his colleagues.

The episode is another staffing embarrassment for Trump and may threaten Kelly’s standing in the White House. Several aides and White House advisers expressed disgust and said Kelly had failed the president if he knew about Porter’s history with his ex-wives and didn’t inform Trump.

After issuing a complimentary statement on Porter earlier on Wednesday, Kelly said in the evening that he “was shocked by the new allegations released today. There is no place for domestic violence in our society.”

Trump didn’t know about Porter’s history with the two ex-wives before Tuesday, when the DailyMail.com approached the White House with details of an interview with one of the women, two White House officials said.

Porter announced on Wednesday he would resign but without leaving the White House immediately. Realization about the seriousness of the abuse allegations grew within the White House after The Intercept published an interview with a second ex-wife and a photo of what she said was a black eye inflicted by Porter.

He denied both of the ex-wives’ allegations. His last day at the White House is now today.

Porter’s title understates his significance in the White House. He served as a clearinghouse for paperwork coming in or out of the Oval Office, and he was an important influence on policy in his own right. Few aides enjoyed greater access to the Oval Office, or spent more time in the president’s company. He also played a vital role in helping Kelly try to bring order to the White House.

Trump didn’t mention Porter when he gathered with lawmakers, members of the military and former Vice President Dick Cheney at the White House on Tuesday evening to watch the movie “12 Strong.” Porter’s situation wasn’t discussed in the White House’s senior staff meeting on Wednesday led by chief of staff John Kelly, but it was addressed in smaller groups, aides said.

Security Clearance

Allegations of domestic violence can be grounds for the government to deny security clearances to aspiring officials. Yet Porter had sat in on meetings of the National Security Council where top secret matters were discussed, according to three people familiar with the situation. Someone in his position would have had an interim clearance while the FBI conducted a background check, according to one official.

Senior staff at the White House apply for five-year clearances, and the process can be lengthy — some current officials are still waiting, aides said. Porter never received a permanent clearance.

“The fact that Porter might have held a senior White House position without a security clearance is troubling and merits a full investigation,” said Chris Lu, former cabinet secretary under President Barack Obama and senior fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center. “I’ve lost count as to how many Trump appointees have​ been sidelined because of their past views or conduct​. But​ this is further evidence of a non-existent vetting process.”

Given the allegations made by his former wives, who The Intercept said were both interviewed by the FBI as part of Porter’s background check, some White House aides said they too were disturbed that he had access to top secret information.

All of the officials interviewed for this story requested anonymity to discuss a personnel and national security matter.

Top Secret SCI

A president’s staff secretary typically would be cleared at a level of security called Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information, allowing the aide to handle extremely sensitive information, according to a former White House official with knowledge of the process. The secretary would have access to two computer systems, one classified and the other unclassified, the former official said.

Staff secretaries are also typically privy to information in the classified President’s Daily Briefing, a summary of intelligence on threats to the U.S., the former official said.