Leak from Young Republicans Chat participant with "Nazi streak" to become top official
Paul Ingrassia was nominated by Trump for a top job. Now chat messages are becoming public that are putting the man under massive pressure. Even Republicans are calling for the nomination to be withdrawn.
21.10.2025, 21:13
dpa
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- The revelations about chats between young US Republicans continue to cause a stir in the USA.
- Paul Ingrassia, who was nominated by Trump to head the Office of Special Counsel, is said to have made racist and anti-Semitic comments.
- He also wrote: "I admit that I occasionally have a Nazi streak".
- Top Democratic and Republican politicians are calling on Trump to withdraw his nomination.
The portal "Politico" has uncovered further chat messages among young Republicans. One member in particular, Paul Ingrassia, is in the spotlight. He is said to head the Office of Special Counsel. The independent federal authority protects whistleblowers in the public sector.
"Politico" had reported that the 30-year-old had made racist and anti-Semitic comments in a chat. Among other things, Ingrassia wrote that the Martin Luther King holiday belonged in "hell". "I admit that I occasionally have a Nazi streak", he also wrote.
The leading Democrat in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, has now called on President Donald Trump to withdraw Ingrassia's nomination. "For the second week in a row, we are getting a disturbing report of young Republican staffers celebrating Nazi ideology and racist garbage when they think no one is listening," Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Schumer called the remarks "dangerous" and called for Ingrassia to "never again hold a leadership position within the Republican Party or the government." According to US media, Schumer's Republican counterpart in the Senate, John Thune, also hopes that the White House will withdraw Ingrassia's nomination. This would have to be confirmed in the Senate.
Racism and anti-Semitism in chats
The "Politico" report is part of a series of investigations in which the portal also analyzed thousands of leaked messages from Telegram chats of the "Young Republicans" - the Republican youth organization. Another report stated that the US Capitol police had been called to the office of a Republican MP because of an American flag with a swastika symbol. The congressman claims to have nothing to do with it.
According to Politico, there were numerous racist, anti-Semitic and violence-glorifying comments in the Young Republicans' chats. One person is said to have written: "I love Hitler", while another hinted at wanting to murder political opponents in gas chambers. Vice President JD Vance did not defend the messages, but described them as juvenile "stupidity". According to "Politico", most members of the chats are between their mid-20s and mid-30s.
Both Democrats and Republicans were outraged. At the same time, Vance and other Republicans referred to leaked text messages from a Democrat from the state of Virginia who, according to US media, had called for the assassination of a Republican opponent in 2022.
