A Campbell Soup executive has left the company a month early after he posted a conspiracy theory on his now-deleted Twitter account that billionaire George Soros was behind a Central American migrant caravan heading north to the U.S.-Mexico border.

In his Oct. 22 tweet, which was posted on Twitter in a screen shot by New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel, former Campbell Soup vice president of government affairs Kelly Johnston, wrote that Soros' foundation, Open Society, "planned and is executing" the caravan.

"And they have an Army of American immigration lawyers waiting at the border," the Tweet said.

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

Soros, who is a supporter of Democratic ideals, had a pipe bomb delivered to his home in Katonah, N.Y. on Oct. 22, along with several prominent critics of President Donald Trump including the Clintons, Barack Obama and CNN.

A Campbell's Soup spokesperson said Johnston and the Camden-based company had discussed in August that he would "transition out of his role" and was scheduled to leave in early November, but the Tweet "accelerated" the timing of his departure.

"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," the spokesperson said.

Following Johnston's Tweet, Open Society responded to him on Twitter by saying the foundation that neither it nor Soros were funding the caravan.

"We are surprised to see a @CampbellSoupCompany executive spreading false stories," the tweet said. "We do 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 Foundations (@OpenSociety) October 23, 2018

Open Society's president also wrote a letter to Campbell Soup last week, and the company's CEO wrote a letter back on Oct. 23 saying Johnston's remarks did "not represent the position of Campbell and are inconsistent with how Campbell approaches public debate."

"We regret that this episode happened and has colored his service to us," the letter stated.

The caravan was estimated to include around between 3,000 and 4,000 people, consisting mostly of Honduran migrants, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The Pentagon said Monday it was sending 5,200 troops to the Southwest border this week to stop the caravan, which was still hundreds of miles from the U.S., according to the Associated Press.

President Trump said in a Tweet early Monday that the caravan included many "gang members and some very bad people."

"Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process," his Tweet said. "This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!"

Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border. Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.