Secret donors and activists accused of controlling progressive prosecutos
Transcript
e law enforcement legal defense Fund just releasing a bombshell new report detailing how donors and activists control progressive prosecutors. >> And in the legal Defense Fund's words, corrupt the criminal justice system. The national news desk Geoff Harris joining us. You've been digging through this report, which focuses on one specific group to break down these new details, titled Outsourcing Justice to Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, looked into dozens of progressive prosecutors, those who usually prioritize reforms to the criminal legal system, elected to office over the last ten years. >> What it found there's a group called the Rend Collective.
The LDF claims is exerting influence on policies controlling messaging and also getting involved in cases. Jason Johnson , president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, tells us in the over 60 page report. They found the Rent Collective is directly tied to over 40 elected district attorneys in 22 states, exerting behind the scenes influence to help shape decisions are working . Hypothesis was based on other reports, was that the Rent Collective was actually guiding in a very substantial way, the policies of those individual offices, but who is the rent collective and how does it operate? According to the report launched in 2020, the organization works as a campaign and PAC consultant for progressive prosecutor races run by former public defender Jessica Brandt. It provides free policy, communication and legal support, all funded by foundations and groups backed by left wing billionaires including George Soros and Kari Tuna.
The rent Collective is a for profit, limited liability company. >> It is not A501C 3 or 500 1C3 or C4. Uh. It operates on A for profit basis. >> This map put together by the LDF details where rent linked progressive prosecutors are located.
As you can see, the dots spread across the country. Some in large cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, others in smaller areas like Burlington, Vermont and Memphis , Tennessee. Based on over 20 public record request disclosures, tax forms and campaign filings, the report, digging into the Nature, scale, and Scope of what it says is the collective's corruptive influence on justice policy under these progressive prosecutors. So essentially, what you have here is you have a situation where the donors retain control over the prosecutor's behavior, included in the report, an email from Amy Weber, a senior attorney under Jessica Brand, sent in 2020, which the LDF says sums everything up. The fund, highlighting multiple portions including a section where Ren brags about writing model policies, abolishing bail and reducing jail populations by Soros funded DA's in Virginia.
Another section highlighting the policies the collective says it's already written that are ready to adopt verbatim, including plea guidelines, juvenile transfer and probation. >> The Rent Collective is filling the gap, developing policies, helping to implement those policies. >> Now, the report's conclusion, based off these findings. Donors and activists can essentially buy access and influence over a prosecutor's policies, undermining the criminal justice system. The Ren Collective is actually writing the playbook.
>> The elected prosecutors, a democratically elected prosecutors, are simply reading the script. >> In an email to Fox News digital brand defended the collective's work. It's strange when there are major mental health challenges in law enforcement and a recruit and recruitment crisis. This organization wants to focus on ren and what the fund surely knows is common practice among conservative and progressive organizations who work with these offices, rather than how to help officers now. We have also reached out to the rank Collective and Brand, requesting comment on the report's findings, but have not yet gotten a res