Departure of Campbell Soup Lobbyist ‘Accelerated’ After He Tweeted About Soros-Caravan Conspiracy
A Campbell Soup lobbyist’s exit from the company was sped up after his tweets promoting a conspiracy theory claiming George Soros was behind the migrant caravan heading for the U.S., was reported on by CNN.
Kelly Johnston, who served as the vice president for government affairs, tweeted last Monday that Soros’ Open Society Foundation had organized “rail cars” and “troop carriers” to help the caravan, which originated in Central America just over two weeks ago.
While Johnston has now deleted his account, The New York Times‘ Kenneth Vogel got a screenshot of the post, which accused the foundation of even planning “where [migrants] defecate.”
Vice President of Government Affairs for @CampbellSoupCo @johnston_kelly (a former Secretary of the US Senate under Bob Dole) spreading conspiracy theory about @GeorgeSoros‘ @OpenSociety planning & executing migrant caravan “including where they defecate.” https://t.co/vDQvw4mUwh pic.twitter.com/NdLnpGQ9uE
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) October 23, 2018
At first, the company chose to distance itself from the remarks of its lobbyist, stating on Tuesday, “The opinions Mr. Johnston expresses on Twitter are his individual views and do not represent the position of Campbell Soup Company,” according to CNN.
By Sunday, CNN Business reported that it was told by a company spokesperson that the date of Johnston’s exit, which had been expected, was moved up.
“In the last few days, the company and Mr. Johnston have agreed that under the current circumstances it would be best to accelerate the timing of his departure,” the spox said.
Thursday was his final workday there.
[Image via screengrab]
