Rep. Thomas Massie says every Republican in Congress has a pro-Israel "AIPAC babysitter"

Washington DC - Representative Thomas Massie said every other Republican in Congress has a designated "AIPAC person" pressuring them to support pro-Israel stances.

Representative Thomas Massie said he is the only Republican member of Congress who does not have an "AIPAC person."
Representative Thomas Massie said he is the only Republican member of Congress who does not have an "AIPAC person."  © DREW ANGERER / AFP

"I have Republicans, you come to me on the floor and say, 'I wish I could vote with you today. Yours is the right vote, but I would just take too much flak back home,'" Massie said in an interview with Tucker Carlson aired Friday.

"And I have Republicans who come to me and say, 'That’s wrong, what AIPAC is doing to you. Let me talk to my AIPAC person.' By the way, everybody but me has an AIPAC person."

AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is a pro-Israel lobbying group which sought to prevent Massie's reelection through a high-dollar ad campaign.

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The congressman said his bad relationship with the group began after he declined to write a white paper on Israel during his first congressional run. He has repeatedly voted against military aid to Israel since that time.

"What does that mean, an AIPAC person?" Carlson asked.

"It’s like your babysitter. Your AIPAC babysitter who is always talking to you for AIPAC. They’re probably a constituent in your district, but they are, you know, firmly embedded in AIPAC," the Kentucky Republican responded.

"I don't know how it works on the Democrats' side, but that’s how it works on the Republican side. And when they come to DC, you go have lunch with them. And they’ve got your cell number, and you have conversations with them."

Thomas Massie describes AIPAC-funded Israel trips

Massie went on to lay out the other strategies AIPAC uses to influence politicians.

"They pay for trips for congressmen and their spouses to go to Israel," he said. "I’m not the only Republican who hasn’t taken the AIPAC trip to Israel, but I’m probably one of a dozen that hasn’t taken that trip and the other ones just haven’t got around to it."

The GOP lawmaker described these trips as vacation-like sightseeing tours.

AIPAC and its affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC have vowed to spend $100 million in the 2024 election cycle to oust the Squad and other members of Congress perceived as insufficiently pro-Israel.

Cover photo: DREW ANGERER / AFP

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