Jeffrey Soros told a private fundraiser he has known Abdul El-Sayed since 2012 and interviewed him for a family fellowship, undercutting the Democrat's war on billionaire donors.
Standing beside Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee at his home Monday night, the wealthy Hollywood producer and nephew of George Soros laid out a personal history that stretches back more than a decade.
Fox News Digital obtained footage of the closed-door event, where organizers asked guests not to record. Jeffrey Soros used the moment to welcome donors and describe how he first encountered El-Sayed through his parents' fellowship program.
"I just wanted to welcome you here and express my appreciation for coming. And it's been a privilege," Soros said.
He continued: "Speaking of privilege, I've had the pleasure of knowing Abdul since 2012. I got to interview him as a finalist for my parents. Fellowship, the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans."
El-Sayed won that fellowship in 2012. The program, built to help immigrants and the children of immigrants, pays winners tens of thousands of dollars in stipend and tuition support. The fellowship's website still lists him as a success story.
That background sits uneasily beside the message El-Sayed has sold Michigan voters. He has made the influence of wealthy donors a recurring campaign theme while seeking a U.S. Senate seat.
In a 2025 local news interview, El-Sayed framed big money as the core disease in American politics.
"The fundamental corruption of our politics has been the system that allows corporations and would-be oligarchs and billionaires to buy politicians," he said.
In a follow-up interview he added: "I want to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for All."
Yet the Monday night gathering was hosted by Jeffrey Soros, CEO of the Los Angeles Media Fund and a prominent figure in a family long known for heavy Democratic giving. Fox News Digital reported that the Soros family's political machine has dumped millions into political committees backing El-Sayed's Senate run.
A flyer for the fundraiser said attendees could donate up to $57,800 to the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund. Prior reporting noted Hollywood notables on the guest list. The event was held at Jeffrey Soros's home, with California cited in the surrounding campaign fight over where the money was raised.
Neither the El-Sayed campaign nor the Los Angeles Media Fund answered Fox News Digital's requests for comment on Tuesday.
Republicans wasted little time tying the remarks to El-Sayed's public brand. Alyssa Brouillet, communications director for GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers, argued the California haul fit a pattern of saying one thing and doing another.
"Abdul El-Sayed raising dark Soros money in California after begging Chuck Schumer for money in DC is the least surprising thing he’s done all cycle,"
Brouillet said. She added: "That’s what a conman does, says one thing and does another. Michiganders can’t trust this guy."
El-Sayed's campaign answered the broader attack by pointing at Rogers. It argued that corporate special interests are spending millions of dollars in dark money to try to buy Rogers a Senate seat because he has spent his career making himself and his billionaire donors richer while Michiganders pay the price.
That defense does not erase the timeline Fox News Digital put on the record. In 2012, Jeffrey Soros interviewed El-Sayed as a finalist for the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship. El-Sayed won. The same family network later poured millions into committees supporting his Senate bid. On Monday night, the nephew hosted him at home, stood next to him, and told donors the relationship has been a privilege, while guests were told not to hit record.
El-Sayed has kept a busy public schedule on the other side of that private room. Photo captions from related coverage show him speaking to supporters at a Detroit campaign event on August 2, 2026, and addressing the Michigan Democratic Nominating Convention in Lansing on Aug. 29, 2026. The contrast is straightforward: open stages in Michigan, a no-recording fundraiser tied to one of the left's most powerful donor families.
The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship is not a casual scholarship. It steers substantial stipend and tuition money to winners chosen through a competitive process that included Jeffrey Soros as an interviewer when El-Sayed was a finalist. Years later, the same circle is writing large political checks and opening private homes for five-figure donations capped, on the flyer, at $57,800 for the victory fund.
El-Sayed wants voters to believe billionaires and "would-be oligarchs" are the problem in Washington. He has not explained, on the record in response to this reporting, how a long personal tie to the Soros family, fellowship support that helped fund his education, and a secretive California fundraiser fit that sermon.
Rogers's campaign is not confused. It sees a candidate who denounces big money on camera, then raises it from the same orbit he condemns. The footage Jeffrey Soros did not keep private only sharpens that charge.
Michigan voters can listen to the anti-oligarch lines. They can also notice who is hosting the private parties, who interviewed the nominee for a family fellowship in 2012, and whose political network has poured millions into the race.
Campaigns built on scolding billionaires collapse when the host with the checkbook is named Soros.
