Powerful Republican “megadonor” Sheldon Adelson has privately told an ally that he supports a campaign against National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster that depicts him as anti-Israel and seeks to remove him from the White House, according to a new report.
Adelson wrote in an email to Mort Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America who is running the campaign: “Now that I have talked to somebody with personal experience with McMaster, I support your efforts,” according to Axios.
The support from Adelson — arguably the most influential donor in Republican politics — comes after his spokesman said he had nothing to do with ZOA’s campaign against McMaster and was “perfectly comfortable” with the job he was doing.
But Adelson said in the email to Klein that was before he spoke with Safra Catz, the Israeli-born CEO of Oracle about a dinner she had recently with McMaster.
“It certainly enlightened me quite a bit,” Adelson told Klein.
Adelson, who funds ZOA, said in the email he didn’t want to be “publicly” associated with the campaign against McMaster, Axios reported.
A White House source tried to downplay the email, telling Axios that the Israel team — which included “noted right winger Ambassador Friedman” – feels that McMaster is “remarkably pro-Israel and he just had a meeting with senior Israeli officials where he won plaudits from them for understanding their unique security needs.”
Adelson’s email is a blow to McMaster, who is under heavy criticism for ousting political opponents inside the National Security Council who wanted to implement the president’s “America First” foreign policy agenda.