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The directive suggests department leaders are following orders from the president, a major break from decades of past practice meant to insulate the agency from political interference.
Sept. 25, 2025Updated 11:43 a.m. ET
A senior Justice Department official has instructed more than a half dozen U.S. attorney’s offices to draft plans to investigate a group funded by George Soros, the billionaire Democratic donor whom President Trump has demanded be thrown in jail.
The official’s directive, a copy of which was viewed by The New York Times, goes as far as to list possible charges prosecutors could file, ranging from arson to material support of terrorism. The memo suggests department leaders are following orders from the president that specific people or groups be subject to criminal investigation — a major break from decades of past practice meant to insulate the Justice Department from political interference.
The move is the latest instance of the Justice Department moving against Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies.
Over the weekend, the president urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to act quickly in seeking criminal charges against his longtime nemesis, the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who has sued Mr. Trump and his businesses for hundreds of millions of dollars. Separate investigations into them are being conducted by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia, and grand juries may soon be asked to vote on proposed indictments in those cases.
In recent days, Mr. Trump has revisited his grievances against Mr. Soros, long a boogeyman for the right, in part because he has backed progressive causes. After the killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in Utah this month, the president threatened to use the levers of government to silence liberal protesters and donors to progressive groups, including Mr. Soros.
Mr. Soros began his global grant network, now known as the Open Society Foundations, decades ago to fund democratic initiatives around the world, particularly in communist and formerly communist countries. In the 1990s, the organization expanded its work to the United States. It provides grants to groups that work for human rights, democracy and equity, but Mr. Trump and some Republicans contend, without providing evidence, that it is a shadowy network promoting civil unrest, violent protests and property destruction. Liberals say the assertions are falsehoods aimed at stifling dissent.
