Rebekah Mercer | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1973-12-06)December 6, 1973 (age 52) |
| Education | Cornell University Stanford University (BS,MS) |
| Occupations | Director,Emerdata Limited[1] |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Sylvain Mirochnikoff (2003–2018) |
| Family | Robert Mercer (father) |
Rebekah Mercer (born December 6, 1973) is an American heiress andRepublican political donor,[2][3] and director of theMercer Family Foundation.
Mercer began overseeing day-to-day operations of political projects for the Mercer family when the Mercers became involved inconservative causes. Her father, billionaireRobert Mercer, said in 2017 that he had sold his stake in the news siteBreitbart to his daughters.[4]
In 2018, Mercer funded and co-founded the social networking serviceParler.[5] In 2022, she created the RAM Veterans Foundation, a nonprofit organization that reviews and recommends veterans charities for donors through CharitiesForVets.org.
Mercer is the second of three daughters of Diana Lynne (Dean) and billionairehedge fund managerRobert Mercer.[6] She was raised inYorktown Heights, New York, a suburb ofNew York City.[7]
Mercer enrolled atCornell University and later transferred toStanford University, where she studied biology and mathematics. In 1999, she earned her master's degree in management science and engineering.[7][8]
She worked as aWall Street trader atRenaissance Technologies, the hedge fund her father helped lead. In 2006, Mercer and her sisters purchasedRuby et Violette, a New York City company[9] that sells cookies and brownies online.[10][11][12] In 2010, she bought six adjoining apartment units in Donald Trump's 41-storyHeritage at Trump Place.[13]
Mercer first became engaged inconservative politics in 2012 afterMitt Romney's defeat in the2012 presidential election. She spoke to a group of wealthy conservative donors at theUniversity Club of New York about what theRepublican Party had done wrong in canvassing and technology operations during the election.[7]
The following year, in 2013, Mercer helped startReclaim New York withSteve Bannon. The organization trains citizens to watch their government closely, and usesfreedom of information laws to force the New York government to disclose public spending.[7]
In 2014, Mercer joinedThe Heritage Foundation's board of trustees.[7]
In September 2016,Politico called her "the most powerful woman inGOP politics."[14] She has been more aligned with the anti-establishment part of the Republican Party than most big Republican donors.[7]Newsmax Media ownerChristopher Ruddy called her the "First Lady of the Alt-Right".[2]
Mercer supportedMitt Romney in the2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
In 2016, Mercer supportedTed Cruz in the2016 Republican Party presidential primaries. She ledKeep the Promise I, aSuper PAC, which was the largest source of financial support in support of Cruz's campaign.[7]
AfterDonald Trump secured the Republican nomination, however, she and her father switched their support to Trump. Mercer supportedJeff Sessions forU.S. Attorney General and againstMitt Romney, who Trump was considering forU.S. Secretary of State.[2][15]
Mercer and her father contributed $25 million during the2016 presidential election.[16]
In June 2016, Mercer created theDefeat Crooked Hillary PAC, and ran the organization's daily operations.[16] The PAC was incorporated with theFederal Election Commission asMake America Number 1[17] and supported Trump in the general election, including making anti-Hillary Clinton advertisements.[17][18]
During the 2016 presidential election, Mercer proposed creating a searchable database forHillary Clinton's e-mails in the public domain and then forwarded this suggestion to several people, includingAlexander Nix the CEO ofCambridge Analytica, who e-mailed the request toJulian Assange.[19][20] Assange denied Nix's request.[21] Mercer worked withSteve Bannon to create the filmClinton Cash.[12] She has consulted extensively with formerDemocratic strategist and pollsterPatrick Caddell on campaigns.[22]
The Mercers stood behind Trump following release of theAccess Hollywood tape in late 2016, dismissing Trump's claim of grabbing women's genitals against their will[23] as "locker room braggadocio."[24]
Mercer directs theMercer Family Foundation and served on the executive committee ofTrump's first presidential transition team.[25]
People close to the transition said she opposedCorey Lewandowski asRNC chair, noting that Lewandowski had reportedly resisted paying for services fromCambridge Analytica, a data firm funded by the Mercers early in the campaign, though a close associate of Mercer's denied the stories.[26] Lewandowski was not, however, supported for the RNC position and did not obtain it.Paul Manafort,Kellyanne Conway's predecessor as campaign director, who was also said to be critical of Cambridge Analytica, had worked for Ted Cruz and was financially backed by the Mercers.[14] Conway reportedly said that, afterTrump's inauguration, the expectation was that Mercer would likely lead an outside group, funded by her father, aimed at bolstering Trump's agenda. It was assumed that Cambridge Analytica would also assist the group's efforts.[10]
The Mercers first introducedSteve Bannon toDonald Trump.[4] Mercer helped create the filmClinton Cash with Bannon, a top political adviser to Trump at the time.[12] She has been one of Bannon's main financial contributors.[27][28]
In late 2017, Bannon told several conservative donors that Mercer had pledged her financial support if he decided to run for president in 2020 against Trump. However, Mercer was frustrated by his comments to the media and disagreed with his public comments in support forRoy Moore, who was under fire forsexual misconduct allegations involving young girls.
In January 2018, a person familiar with conversations between Mercer and Bannon said Mercer would no longer back Bannon financially.[28] Mercer said that she had not spoken to Bannon, the formerWhite House chief strategist in the early months of theTrump administration, in many months but that she continued to support Trump.[8][3]
Mercer and her father,Robert Mercer were key financial benefactors forBreitbart News.Larry Solov, the CEO of Breitbart, said in February 2017 that the Mercers are part-owners of the media outlet.[16] Robert Mercer announced in November 2017 that he had sold his stake in the website to his daughters.[4]
Cambridge Analytica was a privately helddata mining anddata analysis company with financial backing from the Mercers.[11] The Mercers invested in the company after Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election.[7] On May 1, 2018, Cambridge Analytica and its parent company filed forinsolvency proceedings and closed operations.[29][30]
Alexander Tayler, a former director for Cambridge Analytica, was appointed director ofEmerdata on March 28, 2018.[31] Rebekah Mercer, Jennifer Mercer,Alexander Nix andJohnson Chun Shun Ko who has links toErik Prince are in leadership positions at Emerdata.[32][33]
In May 2022, Mercer was credited with creating the RAM Veterans Foundation, named in honor of Robert Alexander Mercer who died in France duringWorld War II. RAM Veterans Foundation is an organization that reviews and recommends veterans charities to donors at CharitiesForVets.org.[34]
In 2018, Mercer co-founded, and funded, the social media websiteParler withJohn Matze Jr. and Jared Thomson. Mercer described herself in a Parler post as having "started Parler" with Matze.[35][5][36]The Parler board, allegedly controlled by Mercer, fired Parler CEO John Matze on January 29, 2021.[37]
As of early February 2021, Mercer holds the majority shares and,The Washington Post reported "increasingly pulls the strings" at Parler, controlling two-thirds of its board, and appointing other directors.[38]
Tax records indicate that the Mercer family donated millions of dollars to organizations thatreject the scientific consensus regarding climate change.[39]
The Mercer family has contributed $4 million to theAmerican Museum of Natural History, and Rebekah Mercer sat on the museum board of directors from 2013 to 2019.
In 2016, over 250 scientists penned an open letter calling for the museum to "end ties to anti-science propagandists and funders of climate science misinformation, and to have Rebekah Mercer leave the American Museum of Natural History Board of Trustees."[40]
In January 2018, a protest by the groupRevolting Lesbians called for Mercer's removal from the board.[41] The protest followed the release of a letter from over 200 academics and scientists calling for the board to "end ties to anti-science propagandists and funders of climate science misinformation."[39]
In March 2018, a group called the "Clean Money Project" mounted a spoof campaign aimed at highlighting Mercer's positions on climate change and pressuring the museum to sever ties with her.[42]
By the end of 2019, Mercer was no longer on the board.[43]
Mercer is a donor to theRockbridge Network, a conservative political advocacy group. In 2022, Mercer co-founded1789 Capital alongside fellow Rockbridge Network associatesOmeed Malik andChris Buskirk.[44][45]
As a student atStanford University, Mercer met Sylvain Mirochnikoff, a native of France. The couple married in 2003.[13] Mercer left her trading job tohome school her four children.[10][12] As of 2016, Mirochnikoff was a managing director atMorgan Stanley.[7] In 2017, theNew Yorker reported that Mercer and Mirochnikoff were in the process of divorcing.[22] The couple is divorced as of 2019.[46][47]
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