Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing a determined push from a Soros-backed group to step down after he helped pass a six-month spending bill to avert a federal shutdown last week.
Indivisible, an activist organization that has received nearly $8 million from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations since 2017, is now calling for Schumer to resign and is hosting an event tonight at which attendees will be encouraged to write “happy retirement” cards to the veteran politician.
The group’s co-executive director Ezra Levin announced the plan to oust Schumer shortly after the funding bill passed: “Senator Schumer should step aside as leader. Every Democrat in the Senate should call for him to do so, and begin making plans for new leadership immediately.”
He added that the wrangling over the spending bill should have been used by Democrats as a “rare, precious point of leverage,” but “Schumer did the opposite. He led the charge to wave the white flag of surrender.”
The new campaign to oust Schumer drew pointed comment from a White House official, who spoke to The New York Post.
They said: “The Democrats will have an important question to answer in the coming days: Who actually leads their party — Schumer or Soros?”
Indivisible reckons it has 1,600 local chapters and employs at least 10 paid staffers. As The New York Post notes, it’s unclear to what extent they receive “orders” from their backers.
A representative of George Soros dismissed the claim that he leads the Democrat Part as “a daydream.”
Indivisible is also coordinating protests against Elon Musk and his work as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, including offering $200 payments to activists to take part in “Musk or us”-themed protests.
Protests against Musk have descended into violence in recent days, with attacks on Tesla dealerships, charging stations and vehicles.
On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced federal charges against three individuals involved in this violence, labelling the protests “domestic terrorism.”
“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” Bondi said in a statement.
“Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.”
Daniel Clarke-Pounder, Adam Matthew Lansky and Justin Thomas Nelson were all charged in connection with the protests.
Clarke-Pounder was charged with arson of property in interstate commerce after setting fire to a Tesla charging station in South Carolina. He wrote “F*ck Trump” and “Long Live Ukraine” in spraypaint before hurling Molotov cocktails at the charger. Agents found a notebook in Clarke-Pounder’s apartment containing statements against the Department of Government Efficiency, which is run by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Lansky threw Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in Oregon, causing half a million dollars in damages.
Nelson, a male-female transgender, spray-painted “Nazi” on a Tesla dealership in Colorado. He is also suspected of setting fire to a Cybertruck.
Each man faces between five and 20 years in prison if convicted.