"According to records filed with the Internal Revenue Service, George Soros's foundation, the Open Society Institute, or OSI, gave $20,000 in September 2002 to the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee," reports the National Review Online's Byron York.

Amy Weil, a spokeswoman for Soros' Open Society Institute, told York that her boss contributed to the convicted terror lawyer because "it appeared to us at that time that there was a right-to-counsel issue worthy of our support."

An avowed critic of President Bush, Soros gave $23 million to Democratic Party groups like MoveOn.org in a bid to defeat him in last year's election. In a 2003 interview with the Washington Post, the Hungarian-born billionaire said living in George Bush's America reminded him of life during the Nazi occupation.

The revelation that a top Democrat donor was funding a convicted terrorist aider and abettor gives added ammunition to New York Republican Party Chairman Stephen Minarik, who blasted the Democrats on Monday, saying "they can be accurately called the party of Barbara Boxer, Lynne Stewart and Howard Dean."

DNC chief Dean rejected the comparison with Stewart, calling it "character assassination," and demanded that Minarik apologize. Minarik issued a statement Wednesday saying "it is not the Republican Party's problem that these far-left activists have made their home in the Democratic party."

The GOP chief's comments made even some of his fellow Republicans uncomfortable, but in light of York's report, his criticism now seems downright prescient.

Stewart's Defense Committee Web site, lynnestewart.org, confirmed the 2002 Soros contribution, with a message noting at the time: "This website is made possible by the generous support of the Open Society Institute."

The message was removed after requests for further Soros aid were turned down, York said.

Stewart's client Rahman is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and for his part in failed plots to blow up the United Nations building and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels in New York City.

Editor's note: