St. Louis prosecutor targeting McCloskeys gets $78,000 infusion from Soros-linked group

The Missouri Justice Public Safety PAC, which is linked to George Soros, has donated nearly $78,000 in contributions to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's 2020 campaign, according to her July 15, 2020 financial report, obtained by Just the News.

Missouri Justice & Public Safety PAC, which donated the amount through in-kind contributions, was contacted for this story but has yet to respond with comment.

The Washington, D.C.-based political action committee is listed at the same street address as one that contributed to Gardner's 2016 campaign.

The Safety and Justice PAC that contributed to the 2016 campaign has the same 13th Street NW address of the Missouri Justice & Public Safety PAC.

Both have financial links to Soros. 

"Yes, it's no secret we contribute to Safety and Justice PACs," Soros spokesman Michael Vachon, told Just the News. "We are for criminal justice reform." 

The Gardner campaign filed its financial report on Thursday, the same day Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley sent a letter to Attorney William Barr calling for a federal civil rights investigation into Gardner.

Gardner, St. Louis' top prosecutor, remains under criminal investigation for her handling of the criminal investigation into former Republican Gov. Eric Greitens. 

More recently, Gardner has targeted Mark and Patricia McCloskey for defending their home June 28 when they brandished their guns as hundreds of Black Lives Matters protestors trespassed onto their property as they headed to the St. Louis mayor's home.

The protesters barged through the McCloskeys' privately closed gate and onto their private road.

President Trump and Missouri Governor Michael Parson have even weighed in with concern for how Gardner is handling the situation.

Hawley, who is the former Missouri attorney general, argues that Gardner has abused her office after seizing McCloskey's guns while pursuing a possible indictment of the married couple. 

Gardner released a statement after Hawley sent the letter to Attorney General William Barr requesting a civil rights investigation.

"Baseless. Our office will continue to investigate this matter," she wrote. "And will not be bullied by a sitting U.S. senator or anyone else."

In an interview with Just the News, St. Louis attorney Joel Schwartz, who represents the McCloskeys said, "I believe the charges are imminent based upon Gardner's past administrative actions and I believe any charges filed are wholeheartedly unwarranted." 

Gardner is running for re-election in the August 4 primary. She will face Mary Pat Carl, an attorney and former homicide prosecutor.

The last time they faced off, Gardner won by 47% and Carl received 24% of the vote, but that was in a three-way race. Now, it is just the two of them competing for the top of the Democratic ticket. 

Carl was the top homicide prosecutor for 15 years in the same office that Gardner now runs. Carl resigned when Gardner was elected. She says s nearly 40% of the prosecutors have resigned since Gardner took over.

When Gardner accepted donations from the Soros-linked PAC in 2016 it caused her some public heat, but not enough to turn down a second Soros-link donation during this political cycle. 

Gardner ran on criminal justice reform and crime reduction in 2016, but the latest St. Louis crime keeps soaring, according to its latest mid-July report. 

Gardner's controversies have grown from her earliest months in office and just seem to snowball.  

She indicted Greitens shortly after she assumed office in January 2017, and months later was forced to drop that case for lack of evidence.

Gardner hired William Tisaby, an out-of-state retired FBI Agent, to investigate Greitens, and then the tables were turned on Gardner and Tisaby, as early reported by Just the News. 

A special prosecutor indicted Tisaby on seven counts of perjury. 

Tisaby is awaiting trial, and Gardner is under criminal investigation in the same case.  

Thom Gross, a spokesman for the 22nd Circuit Court, told Just the News that a status review of the case is scheduled in late July.

"Tisaby's trial has not been scheduled," he said. "Everything is backlogged because of COVID-19 and those in detention will probably go to trial first to ensure speedy trials."  

In the midst of that controversy, Gardner filed her own civil rights suit claiming that she was denied the right to fulfill her duties, and in the body of that case, her lawyers cited the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which only added more fuel to the fire with the St. Louis Police Union. 

Gardner had demoralized the St. Louis local police because she created a list of law enforcement officials who she will not allow to testify in court, calling them unfit to testify by publicly challenging their characters. 

Parson and Trump have growing concerns about how Gardner is handling the McCloskey investigation, and even her public statements of supporting protestors over protecting one's private property and Second Amendment rights. 

With  Hawley now is calling for a civil rights investigation of Gardner and Soros' donations coming to light, the August primary may prove to be a test on Soros' criminal justice reform donations, and the Second Amendment rights.