Trump-Connected Gaza Aid Chief Johnnie Moore Took Part in Secret Influence Operation Promoting Anti-Muslim, Anti-Immigrant, and Anti-Qatar Content
Johnnie Moore handed out content connected to influence operation to Katrina Lantos Swett at an interfaith conference in 2024, and kept shtum about where he got the material
Johnnie Moore is an American evangelical leader, businessman, and adviser to Donald Trump on interfaith issues who describes himself as a "peacemaker" known for his work in the Middle East. A member of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and founder of the Kairos Company advisory firm, Moore was recently appointed chair of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a sketchy US- and Israeli-backed aid initiative that has overseen the chaotic and lethal distribution of aid.
But Moore's Middle East involvement extends far beyond questionable humanitarian work. According to a France 24 investigation by Anuj Chopra, itself based on research by myself and
, Moore played a role (knowing or unknowing) in one of the largest influence operations to have been mounted on Facebook (as well as other operations).A disturbing aspect of the campaign was that it targeted audiences around the globe, but particularly in Europe, with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim propaganda. Specifically, it claimed that Qatar was behind all the Muslim immigration and *violence* in Europe. A bizarre conspiracy theory designed to inflame far-right anger at immigration in an already contentious political space. This all occurred prior to key European elections and the Southport riots in the UK in 2024.
The campaign was vast in scope, involving fake websites calling for boycotts, fraudulent social media campaigns across multiple platforms, and coordinated propaganda efforts spanning multiple countries. According to META, who took down the network after we had published our investigation, the cost of the FB operation alone was at least 1.2 million USD. The operation included racist ads on Meta, anti-Qatar advertisements at CPAC, Times Square billboards attacking Shaikha Moza, and fake change.org petitions attributed to fictitious individuals and organizations. Much of the content used Islamophobic and anti-immigrant tropes, with materials appearing in English, French, and Spanish to target audiences across the United States, Britain, and the European Union. (Read the full report here)
Moore's documented connection to this operation came through Katrina Lantos Swett, whom he asked to promote a poster targeting Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of the Qatari emir, at a religious freedom summit in Washington. The poster being held up by Swett was also run on billboards in Times Square, as well as on Meta ads. (Lantos Swett is President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and daughter of former US congressman Tom Lantos).
When AFP journalist Anuj Chopra attempted to investigate his role, Moore initially accepted an interview request but stopped responding once confronted with Swett's claim that he had given her the poster and probed about his apparent association with the campaign.
Moore may hold important clues to understanding the source and coordination of the broader campaign, though the ultimate organizers and funding remain hidden.
The digital campaign, in part run via a content farm in Vietnam, was never fully attributed by META, although mirrors similar campaigns promoting far right propaganda and Islamophobia run by the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Russian connected assets.
The timing wasn't coincidental. Qatar has served as a crucial mediator in Gaza ceasefire negotiations while hosting Hamas's political leadership since 2012 with US blessing. The influence operation appeared designed to make any "institutional relationship with Qatar radioactive" precisely when the emirate's diplomatic role was most valuable. This raises questions about whether Moore's involvement represents a pattern of undermining diplomatic efforts that don't align with certain pro-Israel positions—questions that have become more pressing given his new role overseeing aid delivery in Gaza itself.