Schumer calls on Trump to withdraw nominee over ‘foul and disqualifying’ texts
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has joined calls for President Trump to withdraw the nomination of Paul Ingrassia for the Office of Special Counsel after alleged text messages emerged in which Ingrassia said he has a “Nazi streak.”
Ingrassia, nominated in June, reportedly also made racist comments in a text chain with other Republican operatives in 2024.
“These texts are foul and disqualifying,” Schumer said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “And it’s hard to believe there is any process in any White House that would allow such a man through to be nominated.”
Politico reported Monday that Ingrassia told other GOP operatives that Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” adding that he has a “Nazi streak.”
The 30-year-old also called Africa a “s‑‑‑hole” and said the “founding fathers were wrong that all men are created equal” in arguing that “we need competent white men in positions of leadership.”
Edward Andrew Paltzik, Ingrassia’s attorney, told Politico he and his client “do not concede the authenticity of any of these purported messages,” alluding to the possibility they were doctored or manipulated.
Schumer said Tuesday that Ingrassia “does not merit confirmation” by the Senate, and called on Trump to pull his nomination before having lunch with GOP senators at the White House on Tuesday.
“Mr. Ingrassia is not going to pass through this chamber,” the New York Democrat said. Schumer added that Ingrassia should be dismissed from his job as White House liaison at the Department of Homeland Security and “should never hold a position of leadership within the Republican Party or the government again.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on Schumer’s remarks.
The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency, is responsible for protecting government whistleblowers from retaliation.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee is set to hold a hearing on Ingrassia’s nomination Thursday. But two Republican members of the committee, Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.) and Ron Johnson (Wisc.), signaled opposition to Ingrassia on Monday, enough to block him, assuming all Democrats vote against him as well.
“I don’t plan on voting for him,” Scott told NBC News, while Johnson told HuffPost that the White House “ought to just pull that nomination.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) also told reporters Monday that Ingrassia’s nomination is “not going to pass.”
Other Democrats in Congress have also called on the president to withdraw Ingrassia’s nomination.