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The Intercept finds a Board of Peace member funding AIPAC's attack PAC
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Marc Rowan, the private-equity billionaire who sits on the executive board of Donald Trump's Board of Peace for Gaza, has given 1.5 million dollars this year to the United Democracy Project, the super PAC through which the lobby group AIPAC spends against candidates critical of Israel, The Intercept reported on Thursday.
Jonah Valdez, the site's reporter, drew the figures from Federal Election Commission filings: one million dollars in early March and 500,000 on 23 July, on top of a 250,000-dollar gift in 2022. The PAC's spending this cycle has targeted Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who votes against Israel aid, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, and the former Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush.
Why the two roles collide#
The Board of Peace is the body Trump chairs to oversee Gaza's reconstruction under his twenty-point plan; the White House named Rowan to it in January alongside Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Tony Blair. Rowan is chief executive of Apollo Global Management and a major donor to the University of Pennsylvania, where he led the campaign against its president over campus protests in 2023.
The Intercept's point is that a man charged with deciding Gaza's political and economic future is also paying to unseat American politicians who question US support for the government that bombed it.
"Palestinians did not choose him, and neither did American voters."
Raed Jarrar, Democracy for the Arab World Now, to The Intercept
Neither Rowan nor the United Democracy Project responded to the outlet's requests for comment. The White House has not published conflict-of-interest rules for Board of Peace members; this paper reported on 23 August that no such rules exist for the board's private-sector seats.
The Intercept is a nonprofit investigative outlet with a record of adversarial reporting on US policy toward Israel. Its report did not allege that any of Rowan's donations were unlawful; US law places no limit on individual gifts to super PACs.
Rowan's fellow board member Robert Gabriel and the investor Yakir Gabay, also named to the body, were not mentioned in the FEC filings the site cited. The PAC's next disclosure is due in mid-October, three weeks before the US midterm elections.
