RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – Former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr has joined the advisory board of a group led by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares that says it aims “to stop progressive prosecutors and enforce our law.”
Miyares is the honorary chairman of the Protecting Americans Action Fund, an offshoot of the Republican-led organization GOPAC that seeks to get conservative prosecutors elected across the country through funding and other efforts.
Virginia’s attorney general called it an “honor” to have Barr, who served as former President Donald Trump’s attorney general, join him on the organization’s advisory board.
“As the former U.S. Attorney General, I am proud to join Protecting Americans Action Fund because we need prosecutors who will enforce our laws, rather than criminal-friendly, progressive prosecutors who constantly fail victims and communities,” Barr said in a statement.
The Protecting Americans Project Action Fund, a hybrid political action committee linked to the group, raised nearly $3 million in 2021-2022, spending just over $2.6 million. According to the Federal Election Commission, the PAC spent more than $2.2 million on advertising and fundraising efforts in a 12-day span last October.
Jessica Curtis, president of the Protecting Americans Action Fund and senior advisor for GOPAC, Inc., told 8News the organization gets behind “common-sense prosecutors who enforce the law and advocate for citizens around the country.”
While Protecting Americans Action Fund has helped campaigns — claiming a 70% victory rate in the 2022 elections — GOPAC Chairman David Avelo didn’t rule out getting behind recall efforts to remove prosecutors from office when the launch of the group was announced in 2022.
At the 2022 launch announcement, Miyares called the organization’s pursuit of getting conservative prosecutors elected an effort to offset a “very one-sided battle.” Miyares said then that there was a “very systematic plan the last couple years by far-left special interest groups, to elect far left, liberal prosecutors all over the country.”
Miyares did not point to any specific donors during the launch, but multiple people quoted in press releases from the Protecting Americans Action Fund call out billionaire George Soros’ funding efforts.
Soros, a target of many conservatives, has contributed to prosecutors’ campaigns and said he will continue to support “reform prosecutors.” A report claims Soros has spent more than $40 million to back prosecutors.
The Miyares-led organization also announced that former Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush would be joining the advisory board. “With Barr and Bush, we will continue to elect conservative prosecutors who take their job of enforcing our laws seriously,” Miyares said in a statement.
“Our judicial system was set up for prosecutors to prosecute, defense attorneys to defend, and a jury to decide the outcome,” Barr’s statement continued. “This organization will get us back on track by electing prosecutors who understand the duties of their position.”
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