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A President Donald Trump nominee to lead an agency responsible for protecting whistleblowers reportedly spewed racist hatred and said he has a “Nazi streak” in group chat messages leaked on Monday.
Paul Ingrassia, who Trump has picked to lead the Office of Special Counsel, allegedly repeatedly spewed racism against Black people and other groups while also expressing white supremacist sentiments in a group chat with other Republican operatives and influencers.
In two of the alleged messages, Ingrassia railed against Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as well as other holidays celebrated for or by Black communities in the U.S. At one point in December 2023, Ingrassia used an Italian slur for Black people, and said that Kwanzaa should be made illegal by Trump.
He reportedly said, “From kwanza to mlk jr day to black history month to Juneteenth … Every single one needs to be eviscerated.” A month later, another message reportedly shows Ingrassia saying, “MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.”
At another point, someone said that Paul “belongs in the Hitler Youth,” to which he responded, “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.” This was not taken as a joke, one of the people in the chat apparently said.
Several times in the leaked messages, Ingrassia expressed white supremacist sentiments. In February 2024, for instance, he reportedly wrote: “We need competent white men in positions of leadership. … The founding fathers were wrong that all men are created equal … We need to reject that part of our heritage.”
Other times, he spewed outright racism and slurs. “Never trust a chinaman or Indian … NEVER,” he said, when talking about then-Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Later, when the group discussed how Democrats “make Black people into victims,” Politico wrote, he reportedly said: “Blacks behave that way because that’s their natural state … You can’t change them … Proof: all of Africa is a shithole.”
The chats were reported by Politico, who interviewed two people in the chat, one of whom had saved a copy of the messages.
Several Republicans in the Senate have said that they will not vote for Ingrassia to be confirmed after Politico’s report. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) said that he believes the White House should pull the nomination because Ingrassia no longer has all of the votes to pass.
Ingrassia’s lawyer, Edward Andrew Paltzik, denied the authenticity of the messages but also defended their contents.
“Looks like these texts could be manipulated or are being provided with material context omitted. However, arguendo, even if the texts are authentic, they clearly read as self-deprecating and satirical humor making fun of the fact that liberals outlandishly and routinely call MAGA supporters ‘Nazis,’” Paltzik said.
He said that the messages are evidence of “individuals” who are “executing their underhanded personal agendas to harm Mr. Ingrassia at all costs.”
“We do not concede the authenticity of any of these purported messages,” he said.
Politico’s reporting builds on previous revelations of bigotry from the formerly low level staffer. In July, CNN reported on hundreds of comments, social media posts, and other archived discussions with Ingrassia over 2019 and 2024. They found numerous incidents of Ingrassia sharing comments by and having ties with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, and found Ingrassia frequently attacking Trump’s political rivals with racist, sexist, and crude insults.
Trump has frequently shared Substack posts written by Ingrassia, with the 30-year-old seemingly picked for his loyalty to Trump rather than his experience, CNN noted. The Office of Special Counsel is tasked with protecting whistleblowers and investigating ethics violations within the government.
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