A recent New York Times article, “Powerful Lobbyist Behind Kevin McCarthy,” reports: “Jeff Miller is the new House speaker’s top fund-raiser and closest confidant. He is also one of Washington’s most prominent corporate lobbyists.”
Politico states: Few relationships are as tight as the one that exists between Miller and McCarthy.”
The Washington Examiner calls Miller: “Washington’s new ‘Indispensable Man.
The National Republican Congressional Committee finance director rates Miller: “the MVP of House Republican fundraising efforts.”
Politico announced in November that if Republicans managed to win a majority in the House (which they did), Miller “could become the most powerful unelected man in DC.”
The Times reports that “Miller’s place at the intersection of power, money, influence and access has made him one of the most important behind-the-scenes figures in Washington.”
Miller, McCarthy’s “lifelong friend,” is both a political advisor and a top lobbyist for an array of Fortune 500 companies and others who want governmental policies that benefit them (including Pfizer).
One of Miller’s clients extolled his contacts and influence: “When we’re facing an uphill battle in Washington, we call Jeff. Simple as that.” Another praised Miller’s “ability to navigate complex political situations, from the White House to the U.S. Congress.”
One example of Miller’s apparent success in influencing McCarthy on behalf of his clients was noted in 2021, when McCarthy opposed popular, bipartisan legislation to break up big tech monopolies:
Rarely mentioned is that Miller is also an advocate for a foreign country.
It turns out that Israel is “a major priority for Miller,” and he has sometimes used his influence on its behalf.
Miller is involved with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), one of the most powerful Israel advocacy organizations in the U.S, and is also on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which similarly advocates for Israel.
Miller attacks people critical of Israel’s long record of human rights violations, claiming: “Being anti Israel is being anti Semitic.” He ignores the fact that numerous people of principle across the political spectrum, including many Jewish Americans, have been critical of Israel from its earliest days.
The American Council for Judaism, founded in 1942, states: “Using the term “anti-Semitism” to characterize criticism of Israel is a tactic long used by Israeli advocates to silence criticism.”
It reports: “In May, 2021, a letter was signed by 93 rabbinical students during the Israeli onslaught on Gaza [info here] which declared that Israel maintains ‘apartheid; in the occupied territories and called on American Jews who have taken on structural racism in the United States to oppose ‘racist violence in Israel.’”
Former Israeli minister Shulamit Aloni similarly explains that calling people “antisemitic” is a trick to silence criticism of Israeli actions:
A former Israeli Mossad agent, Victor Ostrovsky, discussed the tactic on C-Span in 1995:
Miller organized pro-Israel events
In 2014 the Texas Tribune reported on Miller’s influence on former Texas Governor and Presidential hopeful Rick Perry: Perry’s New Campaign Guru: Jeff Miller
The Tribune reported: “Rick Perry’s political star is rising again, and associates say the new man behind the curtain is Jeff Miller, a California transplant known for his fundraising prowess and overflowing address book.”
The article reported that Miller helped organize a news conference in Dallas to emphasize the governor’s unwavering support for Israel. The website INSIDER published a headline that synopsized the event: “Rick Perry Basically Emceed A Pro-Israel Rally To Get Cozy With New York Jews.”
The article reported that Perry was “flanked by Israeli politicians and New York Jewish community leaders” – “some of New York’s most politically-connected and powerful Orthodox Jewish leaders.”
Presidential hopeful Perry then followed up the Israel event with a pro-Israel op-ed in the Washington Post.
The piece that carried his byline garnered high praise from one of the Post’s resident Israel advocates, columnist Jennifer Rubin. (Rubin is known as “one of the loudest right-wing voices on Israel in the United States,” characterized by “ultra-hawkish Greater Israel Zionism.”)
Rubin’s column, “Rick Perry leads on Israel,” endorsed Perry over other presidential contenders. It also contained an only slightly veiled endorsement of Miller himself, stating that Perry has “obviously gotten some advisers and taken some advice to help convert his gut instincts on Israel into policy goals.” Rubin claimed that such pro-Israel policies are “critical for a candidate.”
Given the power of the Israel lobby in the U.S, Rubin may not be wrong.
Ambitious politicians from both parties who wish to become president never seem to mention that Israel spies on the U.S, steals American technology, tried to sink a U.S. Navy ship with all men aboard, embroils America in wars on its behalf, and makes the U.S. complicit in its long record of human rights abuses.
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for former Secretary of State Colin Powell, has often discussed Israel’s damage to the U.S. and its influence on our country.(Wilkerson had previously served as deputy National Security Advisor in the Reagan administration and director of the Marine Corps War College.)
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McCarthy roommate Fank Luntz, strategist for Israel
Another of McCarthy’s closest friends is also an Israel partisan. Republican pollster and political strategist Frank Luntz, one of the “most influential people in the world” and McCarthy’s roommate in 2021, is a devoted Israel advocate.
Among other things, in 2009 Luntz produced a confidential and extremely revealing report on how to manipulate the media and public opinion in favor of Israel. (This was the second such document. Luntz had also produced a report on the topic in 2003.)
The 112-page manual, an expert study on how to cover up Israel’s systemic, ongoing human rights abuses, was produced for The Israel Project, once dubbed “Israel’s most effective media advocacy organization.”
Luntz states, “This manual will provide you with many specific words and phrases to help you communicate effectively in support of Israel.”
Don’t be surprised to hear those words and phrases emanate from the new speaker of the House.
Alison Weir is executive director of If Americans Knew, president of the Council for the National Interest, and author of Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel.