The philanthropist George Soros was accused by a Republican congressman of paying migrants to “storm” the US border

A bomb squad was called to the home of the philanthropist George Soros yesterday to detonate an explosive device found in a postbox.

An employee at the billionaire’s home in upstate New York found and opened the suspicious package and left it in woodland near by until police arrived. The case has been passed to the FBI’s joint terrorism taskforce.

Mr Soros, who is Jewish, has become a hate figure to the far right and has been the target of online disinformation tying his billions of dollars in charitable donations to the migrant crisis and to conspiracies against Brexit and President Trump. A Republican congressman accused him last week of paying migrants to “storm” the US border, echoing Mr Trump’s claim that Democrats are supporting