{"id":14655,"date":"2025-10-20T19:31:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T19:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/trump-nominee-says-he-has-a-nazi-streak-bashes-mlk-jr-day-according-to-texts\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T19:31:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T19:31:38","slug":"trump-nominee-says-he-has-a-nazi-streak-bashes-mlk-jr-day-according-to-texts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/trump-nominee-says-he-has-a-nazi-streak-bashes-mlk-jr-day-according-to-texts\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump nominee says he has a \u2018Nazi streak,\u2019 bashes MLK Jr. Day, according to texts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump\u2019s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be \u201ctossed into the seventh circle of hell\u201d and said he has \u201ca Nazi streak,\u201d according to a text chat viewed by Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

Ingrassia, who has a Senate confirmation hearing scheduled Thursday, made the remarks in a chain with a half-dozen Republican operatives and influencers, according to the chat.<\/p>\n

\u201cMLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his \u2018holiday\u2019 should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,\u201d Ingrassia wrote in January 2024, according to the chat.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus Christ,\u201d one participant responded.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Using an Italian slur for Black people, Ingrassia wrote a month earlier in the group chat seen by Blue Light News: \u201cNo moulignon holidays \u2026 From kwanza [sic] to mlk jr day to black history month to Juneteenth,\u201d then added: \u201cEvery single one needs to be eviscerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Light News interviewed two people in the chat and granted them anonymity after they expressed concerns about personal and professional repercussions. One retained the messages and showed the text chain in its entirety to Blue Light News, which independently verified that the number listed on the chain belongs to Ingrassia. The person said he came forward because he wants \u201cthe government to be staffed with experienced people who are taken seriously.\u201d The second person has since deleted the chain and didn\u2019t recall specifics about it, but did confirm the discussions took place.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for Ingrassia, Edward Andrew Paltzik, initially suggested that some of the texts were intended to be poking fun at liberals, though he didn\u2019t confirm they were authentic.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks 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 \u2018Nazis,\u2019\u201d he wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn reality, Mr. Ingrassia has incredible support from the Jewish community because Jews know that Mr. Ingrassia is the furthest thing from a Nazi.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a subsequent statement to Blue Light News a few days later, Paltzik called out anonymous critics trying to hurt Ingrassia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this age of AI, authentication of allegedly leaked messages, which could be outright falsehoods, doctored, or manipulated, or lacking critical context, is extremely difficult,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is certain, though, is that there are individuals who cloak themselves in anonymity while executing their underhanded personal agendas to harm Mr. Ingrassia at all costs. We do not concede the authenticity of any of these purported messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May 2024, the group was bantering about a Trump campaign staffer who\u2019d been hired in Georgia and was working on outreach to minority voters, when Ingrassia suggested she didn\u2019t show enough deference to the Founding Fathers being white, according to the chat.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cPaul belongs in the Hitler Youth with Ubergruppenfuhrer Steve Bannon,\u201d the first participant in the chat wrote, referring to the paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany and the Republican strategist. Blue Light News is not naming the participants to protect the identity of those interviewed for this article.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it,\u201d Ingrassia responded, according to the chain. One of the people in the text group said in an interview that Ingrassia\u2019s comment was not taken as a joke, and three participants pushed back against Ingrassia during the text exchange that day.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Referring to white nationalist Nick Fuentes and the \u201cLive From America\u201d show on the video-sharing platform Rumble, a second member of the group replied: \u201cNew LFA show coming starring Nick Fuentes & Paul Adolf Ingrassia.\u201d To which Ingrassia wrote, \u201cLmao,\u201d according to the group chat.<\/p>\n

The existence of the messages comes as Ingrassia\u2019s nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel \u2014 an agency that investigates federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination claims, among other sensitive work \u2014 is already in trouble. Earlier this month, Blue Light News reported<\/u><\/a> that Ingrassia, 30, has been the subject of an internal investigation at the Department of Homeland Security, where he works as White House liaison, after a sexual harassment complaint was filed against him. The woman who filed the complaint later withdrew it and said there was no wrongdoing. Ingrassia\u2019s attorney denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the White House and DHS did not respond to requests for comment about the text messages.<\/p>\n

In July, Republican senators delayed<\/u><\/a> Ingrassia\u2019s nomination hearing, with one airing concerns about \u201csome statements about antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingrassia made other racist remarks, according to the chain. In January 2024, he wrote of former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy: \u201cNever trust a chinaman or Indian\u201d and then added: \u201cNEVER,\u201d the texts show. Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

A month later, discussing why some Republicans feel that Democrats make Black people into victims, the texts show Ingrassia remarked: \u201cBlacks behave that way because that\u2019s their natural state \u2026 You can\u2019t change them.\u201d He then added, according to the chat: \u201cProof: all of Africa is a shithole, and will always be that way.\u201d (In his first term, Trump used the term<\/u><\/a> \u201cshithole countries\u201d to describe some African nations and Haiti.)<\/p>\n

The May 2024 discussion surrounding the \u201cNazi\u201d remark turned serious as Ingrassia dug in.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ingrassia<\/p>\n

Ingrassia at first remarked that the Georgia operative should \u201cread a book (if she\u2019s able to) on George Washington and America\u2019s founding,\u201d according to the chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul you are coming across as a white nationalist which is beneficial to nobody,\u201d a third participant in the chat replied.<\/p>\n

When Ingrassia apparently said that \u201cdefending our founding isn\u2019t \u2018white nationalist,\u2019\u201d that participant pushed back, saying Ingrassia \u201creflexively went to saying whites built the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did,\u201d Ingrassia said, according to the chat.<\/p>\n

That comment prompted the same participant to respond, \u201cYou\u2019re gunna be in private practice one day this shit will be around forever brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingrassia posted an image of paintings showing several Founding Fathers, including Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, into the chat. \u201cWe should celebrate white men and western civilization and I will never back down from that,\u201d he wrote, according to the chain.<\/p>\n

The third participant of the group criticized Ingrassia\u2019s \u201cwhite nationalist\u201d tone then said he was coming across \u201cwith a tinge of racism.\u201d The second participant then said he sounded like \u201ca scumbag,\u201d to which Ingrassia allegedly replied, \u201cNah it\u2019s fine \u2026 Don\u2019t be a boomer \u2026 I don\u2019t mind being a scumbag from time to time,\u201d the texts show.<\/p>\n

In February 2024, Ingrassia wrote: \u201cWe need competent white men in positions of leadership. \u2026 The founding fathers were wrong that all men are created equal \u2026 We need to reject that part of our heritage,\u201d according to the text exchange.<\/p>\n

Ingrassia\u2019s apparent comments in the text chain echo some of his public statements and associations.<\/p>\n

Ingrassia has had ties<\/u><\/a> to Fuentes and Andrew Tate, a far-right influencer who has been charged in Britain with rape and human trafficking, which he denies. One month after he apparently made the \u201cNazi\u201d comment in the group chat, Ingrassia attended a rally<\/u><\/a> for Fuentes, though he later claimed that he didn\u2019t know who had organized the event and soon left. Fuentes did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

After Fuentes was kicked out<\/u><\/a> of a Turning Point USA event in June 2024, Ingrassia called it \u201can awful decision.\u201d<\/u><\/a> He also called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict<\/u><\/a> a \u201cpsyop\u201d a week after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack.<\/p>\n

In March 2023, he said that education should focus on<\/u><\/a> helping \u201celevating the high IQ section of your demographics, so you know, basically young men, straight White men.\u201d And in December 2023, Ingrassia declared on X<\/u><\/a>: \u201cExceptional white men are not only the builders of Western civilization but are the ones most capable of appreciating the fruits of our heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The person in the group chat who shared the messages, who has known Ingrassia for several years and met him through Republican political circles, said that Ingrassia\u2019s personality changed in recent years as he went from a young law student interested in conservative politics to an \u201cextreme ego-driven\u201d Trump loyalist. The person said the shift began after Ingrassia, a Cornell Law School graduate, started working as a law clerk for the firm representing Tate and appeared several times on the \u201cWar Room\u201d podcast with Bannon, who did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was too young and too inexperienced to deal with the fame,\u201d the person said. \u201cIt was like giving an 18-year-old $10 million and saying, \u2018Have at it, kid.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Periodically during the text chain, the group nudged Ingrassia to tone down his rhetoric, especially if he wanted to work in a future Trump administration, according to the person.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery influential people were trying to give him advice on how to be, and he threw that advice right back at them and basically said, \u2018Fuck you. Look at me. I can write a Substack<\/u><\/a> and get it posted by the president,\u2019\u201d the person said. \u201c\u2018Who are you to talk to me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after the May 2024 text exchange, the group chat disbanded. People were tired of Ingrassia\u2019s rhetoric, according to the chat participant who provided the messages to Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not be posting on this thread going forward,\u201d the first participant said that day. Referring to Ingrassia, the person added: \u201cThere are enemies in this group. Please take my name out of this thread.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump\u2019s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be \u201ctossed into the seventh circle of hell\u201d and said he has \u201ca Nazi streak,\u201d according to a text chat viewed by Blue Light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}