George Soros: Device found at billionaire's home was bomb, police reveal

'The components were there for an explosive device. It was not a hoax device'

(AP)

A device found at billionaire George Soros's New York home was a bomb with explosive powder, a law enforcement official has revealed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the object found outside Mr Soros's property in Westchester County on Tuesday, contained all the components of a bomb, including explosive powder.

The official told the Associated Press investigators were reviewing surveillance video to determine whether the package had been sent through the mail.

“The components were there for an explosive device,” said the official. “It was not a hoax device.”

The Jewish Mr Soros has also been the target of anti-Semitic smears. Some have falsely accused him of being a Nazi collaborator during World War II, when he was a child in Hungary.

Some Republicans and conservatives like to attack him for funding liberal and progressive groups.

Earlier this month. Donald Trump dismissed a survivor of sexual assault who confronted a Republican senator about his support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “rude elevator screamers”, paid for by Mr Soros.

Mr Trump's reference to Mr Soros was partly accurate; Ms Archila is the co-executive director of the Centre for Popular Democracy, a New York-based activist group. Records show the group receives $500,000 from Open Society Foundations, the grant-making body funded by the 88-year-old Hungarian-American liberal philanthropist.

The AP said that among the unanswered questions officers want to ask is whether the package was actually addressed to Mr Soros, who is a frequent target of right-wing conspiracy theories.

The Bedford Police Department said it responded to the address in the hamlet of Katonah, part of the town of Bedford, at 3.45pm on Monday.

A security officer who worked at the compound placed the package in a wooded area and called police, who alerted the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Bedford police said the FBI's terrorism task force was investigating.

The FBI’s New York field office said on Twitter that there was “no threat to public safety”.

Mr Soros foundation has yet to respond to the incident.

Mr Soros, who made his fortune in hedge funds, frequently donates to liberal causes and is vilified on the right. Recently, conservative critics have, without evidence, accused him of secretly financing a caravan of Central American migrants to make their way north towards Mexico and the US, that has been seized on by Mr Trump. Mr Trump has blamed the Democrats for organising the protest, while Republican congressman Matt Gaetz has directly sought to implicate Mr Soros.

He tweeted: "Breaking: Footage in Honduras giving cash 2 women & children 2 join the caravan & storm the US border @ election time. Soros? US-backed NGOs? Time to investigate the source!"

Journalists have since shown there is no evidence to blame Mr Soros or the Democrats for organising the caravan.