Gohmert Response to Letter From Mr. Gaspard of the “Open Society Foundation” re: Mr. George Soros

Gohmert Response to Letter From Mr. Gaspard of the “Open Society Foundation” re: Mr. George Soros
Washington, December 6, 2018  
In response to a letter from Mr. Gaspard of the “Open Society Foundation” regarding Mr. George Soros, Congressman Louie Gohmert issued the following statement:

“Mr. Gaspard, with the misnamed Open Society Foundation, has been very diligent to condemn opinions or allegations about Mr. Soros’ activity. Yet, he surely knows that in his interview with Steve Kroft on December 20, 1998, Mr. Soros as a mature adult verified that he had no sense of guilt about the role he played in Nazis’ confiscation of property from the Jewish people during the Holocaust. As a very mature adult, if Mr. Soros had deep regrets about what he did when he was 14 years old and apologized, I would have nothing but sympathy and admiration. Were he ever to do that in the future, I would still have those same warm, respectful feelings.
“Instead, Mr. Soros statement went on to say that if he weren’t there, someone else would have been in his role.  Those are things HE said, that HE admitted as an adult. Any person with any sense of empathy for his fellow human beings would regret the part they played in assisting the Nazis.
“Mr. Soros also admitted in that same interview regarding his financial dealings that, ‘I cannot and do not look at the social consequences of what I do.’ That’s breathtaking.

“My remarks were not anti-Semitic; the Israeli government itself stated last year that it did not mean to ‘delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.’

“As for any attempt to invoke fear of violence or violence itself whether against Mr. Soros or anyone whomsoever, I have spent an adult lifetime working in our justice system to try to ensure that anyone who takes justice into his or her own hands must answer to that justice system. If a person who sent a bomb to anyone came before me as a judge for sentencing, I would have no problem assessing a significant time of incarceration. In that manner, the rest of us can maintain our freedom of speech, a God-given right enumerated in the very First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Freedom of speech should not be undermined by heavy-handed attempts to stifle criticism.”