Campbell Soup Jettisons Exec Who Peddled Soros Conspiracy Theory About Caravan

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Campbell Soup Jettisons Exec Who Peddled Soros Conspiracy Theory About Caravan

“We expect our leaders to present facts, to deal with objective truths,” said company CEO after Kelly Johnston was shown the door.
By Mary Papenfuss

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/campbells-soup-exec-jettisoned-after-posting-soros-caravan-conspiracy-theory_us_5bd64bede4b055bc948d56df

A Campbell Soup executive was quickly shown the door after spreading a right-wing conspiracy theory that liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros is bankrolling a caravan of immigrants heading to the U.S. border.

Campbell vice president of government affairs Kelly Johnston, a former secretary of the U.S. Senate, tweeted Monday that Soros’ Open Society Foundation was providing aid to the caravan. There’s no evidence for a such a statement.

Johnston claimed that Soros’ organization was the puppet master behind “troop carriers” and “rail cars” moving the migrants. Johnston’s account is no longer active.

Vice President of Government Affairs for @CampbellSoupCo @johnston_kelly (a former Secretary of the US Senate under Bob Dole) spreading conspiracy theory about @GeorgeSoros‘ @OpenSociety planning & executing migrant caravan “including where they defecate.” https://t.co/vDQvw4mUwh pic.twitter.com/NdLnpGQ9uE
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) October 23, 2018

Johnston had been scheduled to leave the company in early November. But in the “last few days, the company and Mr. Johnston agreed that under the current circumstances it would be best to accelerate the timing of his departure,” a company representative said in a statement to Gizmodo. His last day was Thursday.

Campbell interim CEO Keith McLoughlin had earlier sent a letter to Soros’ Open Society following a complaint from the organization, saying that Johnston’s remarks were “inconsistent with how Campbell approaches public debate.”

Campbell “believes in truth and transparency. We expect our leaders to present facts, to deal with objective truths,” McLoughlin said in the letter. “Mr. Johnston’s remarks do not represent the position of Campbell.”

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Soros’ Open Society Foundation said in a tweet that “neither Mr. Soros nor Open Society is funding” the migrant caravan. It added that the foundation does, however, “support the historic U.S. commitment to welcoming people fleeing oppression and violence in their homelands.”

Mr. Johnston, neither Mr. Soros nor Open Society is funding this effort. We are surprised to see a @CampbellSoupCo executive spreading false stories. We do support the historic U.S. commitment to welcoming people fleeing oppression and violence in their homelands.
— Open Society (@OpenSociety) October 23, 2018

Trump recently claimed that people protesting Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court were paid “by Soros and others,” without any substantiation. Johnston also posted tweets indicating that Soros was funding anti-Kavanaugh protests, and referred to Soros as a “terrorist.”

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