Missouri AG to Newsmax: Soros Donations ‘Blood Money’

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey told Newsmax on Tuesday that any Democrat district attorney whose political campaign is funded by liberal mega donor George Soros is receiving “blood money” because it’s making the streets of the cities run by those elected officials less safe.

That includes St. Louis City Attorney Kimberly Gardner, who Bailey is trying to remove from office. In her reelection campaign in 2020, Gardner received $116,000 from a political action committee backed by Soros, according to Influence Watch.

“It’s blood money. Look, the blood is on these woke left-wing radicals’ hands because they’re making our city streets less safe,” Bailey said on “American Agenda.” “They’re making entire regions less safe and they’re driving away businesses and hurting economic development across our state with their failed ideology.

“It’s dangerous and people have to stand up and put a stop to this.”

Bailey has been pushing for Gardner’s removal since February. In March, Bailey amended a petition quo warranto, the legal mechanism under state law that allows the attorney general to remove a prosecutor who neglects duties.

The amended petition claims Gardner sacrificed the safety of the city of St. Louis, has squandered the good will of the courts through misdirection and incompetence, and has turned away grieving families while murderers walk free.

Criticism of Gardner mounted in February after Janae Edmonson, a 16-year-old athlete from Tennessee, was walking back to her hotel in downtown St. Louis when she was run down by a car driven by Daniel Riley, who was out on bond on a felony gun charge. Police said Riley sped through a yield sign and struck Edmonson.

Bailey said in a news release in February that in 2020, Riley was charged with first degree robbery and armed criminal action for stealing a firearm from a victim at gunpoint. Gardner dismissed and refiled that case on July 18, 2022, but not before Riley, who was out on bond, earned 54 violations for failing to comply with the pretrial bond conditions. After Gardner refiled the case, Bailey said Riley earned 50 more violations, but Gardner never filed a motion to revoke Riley’s bond.

“Ms. Edmonson’s injuries are the direct result of years of willful neglect from Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner,” Bailey said in his initial petition quo warranto. “… [Gardner] is morally, ethically, and legally responsible for the conduct of her office. For years, the Circuit Attorney’s office has failed to (1) prosecute cases to resolution, (2) has failed to inform and confer with victims, and (3) has failed to even review and file cases submitted by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.”

According to St. Louis Public Radio, Gardner said her office is not solely responsible for the circumstances that led to the crash.

“The attorney general and others used this tragic happening to this young lady as a political stunt of an unelected individual to stop the voice of the people in the city of St. Louis,” she said.

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