Thread by @dlippman

SCOOP: Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of Republicans in a text chain the MLK Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a text chat I saw. politico.com/news/2025/10/2…

“MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” Ingrassia, who has a Senate confirmation hearing on Thurs., wrote in Jan. 2024, according to the chat. “Jesus Christ,” one participant responded.

Using an Italian slur for Black people, Ingrassia wrote a month earlier in the group chat seen by POLITICO: “No moulignon holidays … From kwanza [sic] to mlk jr day to black history month to Juneteenth,” then added: “Every single one needs to be eviscerated.”

In May 2024, during a chat about a Trump staffer working on minority voter outreach, one person wrote: “Paul belongs in the Hitler Youth with Ubergruppenfuhrer Steve Bannon.” Ingrassia responded: “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it,” per the chain.

Referring to white nationalist Nick Fuentes and the “Live From America” show on the video-sharing platform Rumble, one member of the group replied: “New LFA show coming starring Nick Fuentes & Paul Adolf Ingrassia.” To which Ingrassia wrote, “Lmao,” according to the group chat.

Ingrassia made other racist remarks, according to the chain. In January 2024, he wrote of former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy: “Never trust a chinaman or Indian” and then added: “NEVER,” the texts show.

Discussing why some Republicans feel that Democrats make Black people into victims, the texts show Ingrassia remarked: “Blacks behave that way because that’s their natural state … You can’t change them. … Proof: all of Africa is a shithole, and will always be that way.”

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’t confirm they were authentic. “Even if the texts are authentic, they clearly read as self-deprecating and satirical humor.”

“In reality, Mr. Ingrassia has incredible support from the Jewish community because Jews know that Mr. Ingrassia is the furthest thing from a Nazi,” Paltzik said. In a subsequent statement a few days later, Paltzik called out anonymous critics trying to hurt Ingrassia.

“In this age of AI, authentication of allegedly leaked messages, which could be outright falsehoods, doctored, or manipulated, or lacking critical context, is extremely difficult,” Paltzik said. “We do not concede the authenticity of any of these purported messages.”