Earlier this year, in June, Integrity Political Action Committee (IPAC) announced a “new coalition” with the Democratic Socialists of America aimed at fighting ICE’s “crackdown on immigration violations.” Two months later, an unlikely figure traveled to the area to meet with IPAC’s leaders: Rep. Thomas Massie, the man who describes himself as “Kentucky’s most conservative congressman.”
A social media post shows Massie smiling alongside IPAC chairman Rafed Aljoboury in what appears to be a private home in Dunmore, Pa., a Scranton suburb. One week earlier, Aljoboury contributed $500 to Massie’s campaign, according to campaign finance disclosure. Aljoboury spoke at the press conference where IPAC launched its partnership with the DSA and compared ICE agents to Nazis.
“They are honestly acting more like Gestapo,” Aljoboury said. “If you don’t know what Gestapo is, Gestapo is the SS, the German Nazi. They targeted, at the time, everybody who [they] perceived as a threat to the system of government, and that is exactly what’s happening now.”
It’s an interesting pairing, given that Massie has said, “If you enter this country illegally, you broke the law and you should be deported.” IPAC nonetheless says it “stands with Rep. Thomas Massie and support [sic] his re-election campaign.” The endorsement section of the group’s website, meanwhile, lists only Massie and includes a link to donate to his campaign.
Massie told the Washington Free Beacon he is “not familiar with the Integrity Political Action Committee” or its “position on immigration, but I feel strongly that we should stop illegal immigration.” He acknowledged Aljoboury’s campaign contribution but emphasized that it “was from him as an individual and did not come from IPAC.”
“At the event,” Massie said, “I said what I have said publicly, which is that I am against the war in Gaza, America should not fund the war, too many innocent people have died, and I would like to see a peaceful settlement to the conflict as soon as possible.”
Massie’s trip to Pennsylvania came as President Donald Trump’s political operation launched a campaign to defeat Massie in a primary. The GOP legislator routinely votes against legislation the White House supports, and Trump has called Massie the “worst Republican Congressman” and an “almost guaranteed NO VOTE each and every time.”
Massie was particularly critical of Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the Islamic Republic posed “no imminent threat” to the United States and introducing a bill with Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) to block U.S. military action in Iran. The move prompted fury from Trump—and praise from groups like IPAC.
Though IPAC’s website features a bald eagle flying in front of the American flag while holding the Constitution and says the organization is “dedicated to influencing political causes that promote the common good and general welfare of the community and the nation,” its X account presents a different picture. There, the group boosts pro-terror and anti-Semitic voices.
It routinely reposts Jackson Hinkle, a self-described communist who has met with Houthi terrorists in Yemen and attended the funeral of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. In March, it boosted a video from anti-Semitic podcaster Stew Peters titled, “Everywhere you look, every stone you turn…you find a jew.”
“President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He was murdered by Jews and by their shabbos goys in the United States government and in the CIA who they walk around on leashes like a bunch of dogs,” Peters says in the video. “There’s just too many breadcrumbs, and they all lead to the very same place. They all lead to the very same people: the Jews.”
Another frequent figure featured on IPAC’s feed is Erik Warsaw, an “independent journalist” who boasts more than 400,000 TikTok followers. Warsaw has described the Holocaust as “Zionist false propaganda created for false sympathy” and offered praise for the man who pleaded guilty to the arson attack on Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s (D.) residence, Cody Balmer, calling him “a Pro-Palestine activist [who] stands for humanity.”
Warsaw attended the August meeting with Massie, a photo he posted with the congressman shows. “It was such a pleasure to meet US Congressman Thomas Massie!” he wrote. “He stands against AIPAC and against Israeli dual citizens working in US Congress.”
Warsaw’s post indicates Rabiul Chowdhury hosted the event. A Philadelphia-area investor, Chowdhury cofounded Muslims for Trump but has since criticized the administration, arguing that some of Trump’s cabinet picks, “like Marco Rubio,” did not “align with America First and his vision of peace.”
Chowdhury contributed the $3,500 maximum to Massie’s primary campaign, campaign finance disclosures show. His only other federal campaign contributions went to Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, Rep. Summer Lee’s (D., Pa.) 2024 reelection campaign, and liberal Pennsylvania state senator Sharif Street’s unsuccessful 2022 congressional campaign.
Massie—with the help of donors like Chowdhury, IPAC’s Aljoboury, and the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Covington and Burling—raised $768,000 between July and September, the “best fundraising quarter of his career,” according to Politico. While the outlet suggested in a July profile of Massie that the Republican’s Kentucky district is more aligned with its congressman than its president, the overwhelming majority of Massie’s most recent fundraising haul came from outside of the Bluegrass State. Of the $537,000 in itemized individual contributions Massie reported, just $22,000—or 4 percent—came from within Kentucky, a Free Beacon review found.
IPAC did not respond to a request for comment.
Edwin Carlson contributed to this piece.
Read the full article here