San Francisco voters fired their Soros-backed prosecutor in a landslide recall.
A federal judge just did what Philadelphia voters never could.
The DA now facing a federal criminal referral got there by lying about a murder case.
The Murder Case That Blew Up Larry Krasner's Post Conviction Unit
Dennis Johnson was convicted in 2009 of murdering Kenyatta Smith.
In 2022, prosecutors in Larry Krasner's office filed papers conceding Johnson deserved a new hearing over supposedly ineffective defense counsel.
U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond just ruled that concession was built on lies.
Diamond found Krasner's office assigned an inexperienced assistant DA, Jaclyn Mason, to review the case, then let the record falsely suggest she had run an independent investigation.
Mason's notes told a different story: she and defense lawyers had discussed "which claim would be the best claim to concede on" before she ever finished reviewing it.
When the scheme started to unravel, Krasner's top deputy Matthew Stiegler allegedly told colleagues to dig through Mason's other cases and "paint her as a rogue actor."
Diamond did not buy it. He wrote that he did not believe Stiegler's claim that he expected Mason to conduct a full investigation.
The judge found Krasner's office edited filings to bury Stiegler's role and pin the whole mess on the junior attorney instead.
Diamond disqualified both Krasner and Stiegler from the case and referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney's Office for possible charges of false statements, perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy.
Krasner says he will appeal, calling it a disagreement over "findings of fact and conclusions of law."
How Soros Money Built the Prosecutor Now Facing a DOJ Referral
George Soros poured close to 1.7 million dollars into Krasner's first campaign for Philadelphia DA in 2017.
That investment bought a prosecutor who built his career on freeing convicted killers, not locking them up.
It is the same investment Soros made in Chesa Boudin, the San Francisco DA voters recalled by a landslide in 2022 after his office turned the city into a national punchline for catch-and-release justice.
Philadelphia never got its recall. Instead it got a DA who threatened federal immigration agents at Philadelphia's airport, telling them "the president cannot pardon you and yes I will put you in handcuffs."
Krasner blamed ICE for 2,000 canceled hotel bookings during the World Cup, even while calling the agency's airport deployment "stupid but lawful" instead of standing up to it.
Federal prosecutors have circled Krasner's office before. A previous U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania once accused him of promoting "a stunning disrespect for law enforcement" and vowed to give his office "adult supervision."
The Department of Justice has not commented on Diamond's referral yet. Krasner's own record with federal prosecutors suggests that silence will not last.
What Happens to a Soros DA When the Excuses Run Out
Progressive prosecutors bankrolled by George Soros have followed the same script in city after city: catch, release, blame the system, and dare voters to do something about it.
Krasner just found out a sitting federal judge does not answer to Philadelphia's political machine the way voters do.
A convicted murderer's freedom hung on a filing built out of an inexperienced attorney's rushed review and a cover story invented after the fact.
That is not a technicality. That is a district attorney's office deciding a killer's freedom mattered more than the truth.
Krasner can call it a disagreement over legal conclusions all he wants.
A federal judge just called it perjury, obstruction, and conspiracy, and handed the file to prosecutors who do not work for him.
Sources:
- Nick Arama, "Whoa: Fed Judge Just Referred Soros-Backed Philly DA to DOJ for Possible Criminal Investigation," RedState, September 15, 2026.
- Ed Morrissey, "Whoa: Federal Judge Removes Krasner From Case, Asks DoJ to Investigate Perjury, Obstruction," HotAir, September 16, 2026.
- "Soros-backed DA Krasner threatens ICE agents at Philly airport: 'I will put you in handcuffs,'" Fox News, March 2026.
- "Recall of Chesa Boudin in San Francisco Shows Rogue Prosecutor Movement for Failure It Is," The Heritage Foundation.
