AIPAC now going after Malinowski on stock trades

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is not letting up in its attacks on former Rep. Tom Malinowski, airing a new ad starting today that goes after a longtime vulnerability for the former congressman: his stock trades.

United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s political spending arm, has spent $1.4 million so far on the race, including a $500,000 media placement reported earlier this week. The group’s new ad focuses on Malinowski’s failure to disclose a number of stock trades during his first stint in Congress in 2019 and 2020; Malinowski has repeatedly denied that the disclosure issue was anything but an innocent mistake, and a House Ethics Committee review of the matter remained unresolved when Malinowski lost re-election in 2022.

The ad also briefly repeats its attack on Malinowski’s vote for a 2019 bill that included funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which was also referenced in the group’s prior ad. Once again, AIPAC’s signature issue, support for Israel, goes entirely unmentioned.

UDP still has not detailed why the generally pro-Israel Malinowski earned its ire and which alternate candidate for the 11th congressional district it would prefer to see win. Asked both of those questions, UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton simply repeated the content of the group’s ad: “Whether it’s increasing funding for ICE or cashing in on Covid-related stocks, Tom Malinowski proved he can’t be trusted during his time in Congress,” he said.

In a statement responding to the ad, Malinowski connected UDP to the wealthy donors, many of them conservative Republicans, who keep it running.

“The biggest donors to the group running this slimy ad are Trump-supporting billionaires,” he said. “Since their last obviously dishonest smear failed, they’re now trying out the same discredited attack Republicans have repeatedly used both against me and in last year’s gubernatorial race.”

Indeed, Republicans have heavily targeted Malinowski’s stock woes in the past, spending millions of dollars to slam the congressman on the issue in 2022. One of Malinowski’s primary opponents in this year’s February 5 special primary election, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), has also been airing a stock-focused attack ad.

The enormous size of UDP’s expenditures, though, means that far more people are now going to hear – once again – about the issue. Malinowski is the only candidate in the 11th district special election who has come under any significant fire from outside groups; Lieutenant Gov. Tahesha Way, meanwhile, has benefited from $1.8 million in outside investments supporting her campaign, including $350,000 from a mysterious group that has not disclosed any donors and has provided no explanation for its involvement in the race.

Much like its prior spot, the message of UDP’s new ad is also contradicted by some of AIPAC’s own actions. Although UDP says voters can’t trust Malinowski due to his stock trades, AIPAC has endorsed a Pennsylvania GOP congressman who was admonished by the Ethics Committee last year following a four-year investigation into his wife’s stock trading; similarly, the ICE-related bill that Malinowski voted for in 2019 was also supported by hundreds of other members of Congress who are running with AIPAC’s endorsement.

While the deluge of negative spending against Malinowski likely complicates his path to the Democratic nomination, though, it also provides him an easy foil: big-money donors don’t want to see Tom Malinowski back in Congress.

“I am proud to be [AIPAC’s] number one target in this race, and can’t wait to get back to Congress to fight the corrupting influence of dark money in our politics and ban stock trading by members of Congress and executive branch officials,” Malinowski said today.