Conservative groups have accused protesters against Trump and GOP lawmakers of being paid by George Soros' network. | Getty Conservatives try again to tie Soros to anti-Trump group

Republican operatives on Thursday tried again to connect the upstart protest group Indivisible to George Soros, posting video they claim ties the group to the liberal mega-donor.

The Need to Know Network, a news-aggregation website linked to the conservative political action committee America Rising, released a video of Indivisible co-founders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg attending the spring donor summit of the Democracy Alliance, a liberal donors' club that counts Soros as a key member.


The White House and conservative groups have accused protesters against President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers — a significant number of them organized under the Indivisible banner — as being paid by Soros' network rather than being an organic force.

"The video deals a major blow to Indivisible’s claim of being a 'grassroots advocacy' movement," Need to Know claimed in a release sent out to America Rising's email list. "Contrary to a bottom-up, people-inspired movement, Indivisible’s leaders are instead meeting with bigwig Democrat donors in the bar of a swanky D.C. hotel."

Founded in the wake of Trump's victory by former Democratic congressional aides who penned a handbook for resisting his agenda, Indivisible has quickly grown to become a sprawling, decentralized network of local groups known for attending town halls and publicly bird-dogging members of Congress. The group's members largely demonstrate against Republicans but have also made their presence known at some Democratic events and offices.

Levin, who serves as Indivisible's executive director, said in an interview that the group has not received money from Soros or his Open Society Foundation. Of the money the group has raised so far, he said, "the large majority" comes from donations collected using the liberal funding platform ActBlue.

"There is not only a slight amount of anti-Semitic innuendo involved in casting George Soros as the bogeyman," said Levin, who added that conservatives are seeking scapegoats for the failure to hold a House vote to repeal Obamacare Thursday.

"The reason the House vote today is being delayed is not because somebody is pulling strings," he said. "People throughout the country are going to congresspersons’ offices and making calls."