Editor’s Note: This article contains racist language.
Paul Ingrassia J.D. ’22, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which handles federal employees’ complaints and whistleblowing, wrote in text messages to a group chat of a half-dozen Republican operatives that he had a “Nazi streak,” according to reporting by Politico.
“I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it,” Ingrassia texted in the Republican group chat.
A day after the text messages were published, Ingrassia put a pause on his nomination and announced that he would not be attending his confirmation hearing, scheduled for Thursday. In his Tuesday announcement on X, he wrote, “unfortunately I do not have enough Republican votes at this time.”
The embattled conservative nominee previously wrote that Martin Luther King Jr. was “the 1960s George Floyd,” and that Martin Luther King Jr. day should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.”
“Never trust a chinaman or indian,” Ingrassia also texted about former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. “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.”
During his time at Cornell, Ingrassia edited for the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, hosted a podcast with his sister, Olivia Ingrassia, and wrote for the far-right publications The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit.
His podcast, titled “Right On Point,” urged Trump to declare martial law in the aftermath of the 2020 election, according to CNN.
Later, Ingrassia worked on the legal defense team for Andrew Tate during the controversial influencer’s rape and trafficking charges case, praising Tate as a “great man.”
He was nominated for the top spot at the OSC by Trump on May 29.
Soon after, Ingrassia faced allegations of sexual harassment while serving in the Department of Homeland Security. He also maintains ties to far-right individuals, including Nick Fuentes and Tate, appearing at one of the white nationalist’s recent rallies.
Ingrassia’s comments were reported less than a week after a Young Republican group chat, including many New York Young Republicans, was leaked, revealing antisemitic and racist texts like “I love hitler,” “they love the watermelon people” and that Young Republican’s enemies would “go to the gas chamber.”
Ingrassia is also a member of the New York Young Republicans, which was disbanded after the Politico article.
Ingrassia did not immediately respond to The Sun for a request for comment. He remains the White House liaison to the DHS.
Atticus Johnson is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at ajohnson@cornellsun.com.
