Rebekah A. Mercer

Rebekah Mercer (born December 6, 1973) is an American heiress and Republican political donor,

In 2018, Mercer funded and co-founded the social networking service Parler. In 2022, she created the RAM Veterans Foundation, a nonprofit organization that reviews and recommends veterans charities for donors through CharitiesForVets.org.

Early life and education Mercer is the second of three daughters of Diana Lynne (Dean) and billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer. She was raised in Yorktown Heights, New York, a suburb of New York City.

Mercer enrolled at Cornell University and later transferred to Stanford University, where she studied biology and mathematics. In 1999, she earned her master's degree in management science and engineering.

Career She worked as a Wall Street trader at Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund her father helped lead. In 2006, Mercer and her sisters purchased Ruby et Violette, a New York City company that sells cookies and brownies online. In 2010, she bought six adjoining apartment units in Donald Trump's 41-story Heritage at Trump Place. She has been more aligned with the anti-establishment part of the Republican Party than most big Republican donors.

Mercer and her father contributed $25 million during the 2016 presidential election.

In June 2016, Mercer created the Defeat Crooked Hillary PAC, and ran the organization's daily operations. and supported Trump in the general election, including making anti-Hillary Clinton advertisements.

During the 2016 presidential election, Mercer proposed creating a searchable database for Hillary Clinton's e-mails in the public domain and then forwarded this suggestion to several people, including Alexander Nix the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, who e-mailed the request to Julian Assange. Assange denied Nix's request. Mercer worked with Steve Bannon to create the film Clinton Cash.

The Mercers stood behind Trump following release of the Access Hollywood tape in late 2016, dismissing Trump's claim of grabbing women's genitals against their will as "locker room braggadocio."

Trump administration Mercer directs the Mercer Family Foundation and served on the executive committee of Trump's first presidential transition team.

People close to the transition said she opposed Corey Lewandowski as RNC chair, noting that Lewandowski had reportedly resisted paying for services from Cambridge Analytica, a data firm funded by the Mercers early in the campaign, though a close associate of Mercer's denied the stories. 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.

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 for Roy Moore, who was under fire for sexual 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.

Breitbart News

Mercer and her father, Robert Mercer were key financial benefactors for Breitbart News. Larry Solov, the CEO of Breitbart, said in February 2017 that the Mercers are part-owners of the media outlet.

Alexander Tayler, a former director for Cambridge Analytica, was appointed director of Emerdata on March 28, 2018. Rebekah Mercer, Jennifer Mercer, Alexander Nix and Johnson Chun Shun Ko who has links to Erik Prince are in leadership positions at Emerdata.

RAM Veterans Foundation In May 2022, Mercer was credited with creating the RAM Veterans Foundation, named in honor of Robert Alexander Mercer who died in France during World War II. RAM Veterans Foundation is an organization that reviews and recommends veterans charities to donors at CharitiesForVets.org.

Parler

In 2018, Mercer co-founded, and funded, the social media website Parler with John Matze Jr. and Jared Thomson. Mercer described herself in a Parler post as having "started Parler" with Matze. The Parler board, allegedly controlled by Mercer, fired Parler CEO John Matze on January 29, 2021.

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.

American Museum of Natural History

Tax records indicate that the Mercer family donated millions of dollars to organizations that reject the scientific consensus regarding climate change.

The Mercer family has contributed $4 million to the American 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."

In January 2018, a protest by the group Revolting Lesbians called for Mercer's removal from the board. 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."

By the end of 2019, Mercer was no longer on the board.

Rockbridge Network and 1789 Capital Mercer is a donor to the Rockbridge Network, a conservative political advocacy group. In 2022, Mercer co-founded 1789 Capital alongside fellow Rockbridge Network associates Omeed Malik and Chris Buskirk.

Personal life As a student at Stanford University, Mercer met Sylvain Mirochnikoff, a native of France. The couple married in 2003. Mercer left her trading job to home school her four children.