ADVERTISEMENT

Soros Nonprofit President Departs, Fueling Speculation About a Biden Appointment

George Soros / Getty Images
December 4, 2020

The president of George Soros's vast nonprofit network is leaving his position to potentially join President-elect Joe Biden's administration, according to reports.

Patrick Gaspard is stepping down as president of Soros's Open Society Foundation, Axios reported Friday. The move has fueled speculation that Gaspard may be Biden's pick for Labor secretary.

"I write to share with you that I will leave Open Society at the end of the year," Gaspard wrote to people within the organization. "After four profound years of service to this extraordinary institution, and at a critical juncture for the democracy that is my home, I am compelled to charge once more unto the breech in a new political moment."

Soros, who poured a personal record of $70 million into the 2020 elections, has loomed large over the transition. The Washington Free Beacon reported that a number of individuals in Soros's network received seats on Biden's transition team.

Sarah Cross, an advocacy director at Soros's Open Society Foundations, is on Biden's State Department team. Michael Penn, a special adviser in the executive office of the Open Society Foundations, is on the United Nations team. Diane Thompson, a Leadership in Government Fellow at the Open Society Foundations, was tapped for Biden's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau transition team.