A Republican state Attorney General is asking Congress to investigate a Justice Department Grant that, according to him, benefits a George Soros-linked “radical progressive” group. This group trains prosecutors on how to use a soft approach to crime.

Missouri’s Attorney-General Andrew Bailey sent letters Wednesday to congress to urge both Republican lawmakers and Democrat legislators “to further investigate, and eliminate funding for counterproductive programs to public safety”, and “to aid or encourage prosecutors abuse discretion by refusing bring criminals to court”.

Bailey’s letter follows what he calls a “galvanizing” moment in Missouri, when Kim Gardner (a disgraced St. Louis Circuit Attorney – “a progressive, soft-on crime prosecutor”) let out a repeat offender on bail. The criminal then drove his car at high speed into a girl and left her with injuries that required amputation of her both legs.

Gardner resigned in the end after mounting evidence and criticisms from both parties.

Bailey wrote: “While states like Missouri lead the fight for justice and incarceration of criminals, federal partners and organizations are doing the exact opposite.” He said that the U.S. Department of Justice, in concert with radicals such as George Soros and other organizations, actively funds the Vera Institute, which is turning our streets into a war zone.

Bailey names Vera Institute, a Brooklyn advocacy group with Washington, D.C., Democrats ties, as a key partner “deeply embedded” in Gardner’s old office, “turning the former office into a disastrous social experiment more interested in lowering prosecution rates rather than convicting violent crime.”

In previous years, Soros’ Open Society Foundations gave nearly $11 Million to the Vera Institute.

Bailey claims Gardner “bragged,” that her office had “partnered with Vera Institute of Justice’s Reshaping Prosecution Program to shrink the St. Louis system and initiate transformational change” while it implemented a “new approach focused on… racial equality.”

“Ms. Gardner’s partnership, which aimed to ‘actively reduce the criminal justice system’s footprint’, was a disaster and unmoored her office from sound laws enforcement practices. The Vera Institute, a far-left advocacy group with broad and nebulous objectives such as moving away ‘case by case’ prosecutorial discretion that is considered to be a “narrow view of Justice”, instead focusing on the’systemic impacts of case decisions’.

Vera stated in a Fox News Digital statement that the group had “entered a partnership” with the then-Circuit attorney for the City of St. Louis Kim Gardner to analyze data from her office, measure racial gaps, identify reform areas, and increase transparency within her community. The partnership assisted the CAC to implement policy reforms, such as increased diversion programmes that promote safety through addressing the underlying causes of crime and reducing criminal recidivism.

The group explained that “Vera’s role was collecting and analyzing data, and working with CAC staff in order to come up with policy solutions. CAC leadership would then decide whether or not to implement them.”

Vera’s recommendations are based on data and research from the St. Louis area. Vera analyzes local administrative data using industry best practices in order to better understand the impact of prosecutorial decisions on public safety and racial inequality. Our research has been reviewed by the Institutional Review Board, and it meets the highest standards. Our recommendations are aimed at promoting public safety and health through alternative methods to incarceration and prosecution that have proven to create safer communities.

Vera Institute has received hundreds of millions of dollar since 2009, according to information publicly available on the Office of Justice Programs website of the DOJ.

Eric Holder, the then Attorney General of President Obama, delivered the keynote speech at Vera’s Third Annual Justice Address in New York City. He thanked Vera as an “extraordinary partnership to the government in administration of justice.”

Each year, the OJP selects groups that are involved in law enforcement and work to prevent and reduce crime for which federal funding is provided. Congress appropriates the OJP budget. OJP requested a budget of $6.2 billion in 2023. Vera received at least $4.5 Million in grand money, according to documents publicly available.

Bailey wrote that the fight becomes more difficult as long as state officials are forced to battle not only radical billionaires and progressive prosecutors, but also the DOJ, which uses tax dollars to undermine rule of law in communities.

Bailey wrote to the leadership of House and Senate Judiciary Committees and House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

Fox News Digital did not receive a response from the Department of Justice regarding its request for comment.