NPR: Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists

Originally published by NPR

May 14, 2025

President Trump campaigned on a pledge to fight antisemitism.

“Antisemitic bigotry has no place in a civilized society,” Trump said at an event in 2024.

However, the president’s critics question whether antisemitism may have found a place within his administration.

NPR has identified three Trump officials with close ties to antisemitic extremists, including a man described by federal prosecutors as a “Nazi sympathizer,” and a prominent Holocaust denier.

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Trump administration has used the fight against antisemitism as justification for the deportation of pro-Palestinian student protesters and funding cuts to universities.

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, argues that the administration is using antisemitism as a pretext.

“If the administration were serious about countering antisemitism, first and foremost they wouldn’t be appointing people with antisemitic and other extremist ties to senior roles within the administration,” Spitalnick said.

The White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security

Paul Ingrassia, currently serving as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, has ties to multiple figures widely known for promoting antisemitism.

In 2023, Ingrassia repeatedly praised the controversial “manosphere” influencer Andrew Tate and worked on his legal team. Romanian authorities have accused Tateof human trafficking. Florida’s attorney general also opened an investigation into Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate. The two men deny all wrongdoing.

The top of Ingrassia’s Instagram page features a pinned photo of himself with Andrew Tate, who describes himself as a “misogynist.”

“The Tate brothers provide an opportunity for a better future – one that inspires, rather than degrades, men,” reads Ingrassia’s caption.

The Anti-Defamation League says that Tate “has leaned heavily into unabashedly antisemitic rhetoric, perpetuating Holocaust revisionism, spreading conspiracy theories about Israel, praising Hamas, performing Nazi salutes and encouraging people to embrace and openly engage in racism.”

Ingrassia was also seen at a June 2024 rally in Detroit led by Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and white nationalist.

As Fuentes began his speech, his supporters chanted, “Down with Israel!”

“I don’t know about you,” Fuentes said at the rally, “but calling Donald Trump a racist only makes me like him more.”

Amanda Moore, a freelance journalist, spotted Ingrassia in the crowd and reported for The Intercept that he stayed for approximately 20 minutes.

“I’ve seen him at other events. I’m familiar with his social media,” Moore told NPR. “And for some reason, he chose to stand directly in front of me, so he was hard to miss.”

Livestream footage shows Ingrassia approaching Fuentes, smiling before he spoke as Fuentes’ supporters chanted, “We want Nick!”

On social media, Ingrassia has written that “dissident voices” like Fuentes belong in conservative politics. He wrote a Substack post titled “Free Nick Fuentes,” criticizing the platform X for banning Fuentes over hate speech. Fuentes’ X account was later reinstated.

(Trump dined with Fuentes, alongside Kanye West, who goes by Ye, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022. Trump said he “knew nothing about” Fuentes. Ye has since recorded a song glorifying Adolf Hitler.)

Ingrassia also supported the Patriot Freedom Project, which advocates for people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“The tragedy of Jan. 6, 2021, was not that it was an attack on our democracy, let alone an insurrection,” Ingrassia said at a Patriot Freedom Project fundraiser in January 2024. “But rather, it was an opportunity for the deep state to finally remove its mask and begin prosecuting and jailing innocent American citizens like Tim, like so many of the people here today.”

The “Tim” whom Ingrassia referenced is Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who was convicted of multiple nonviolent offenses for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was later pardoned by Trump.

Federal prosecutors described Hale-Cusanelli as a “Nazi sympathizer” who once went to work at a naval weapons station with a “Hitler mustache.” He also recorded a lengthy antisemitic video rant in which he compared Orthodox Jews to a “plague of locusts.”

Hale-Cusanelli denies that he is a Nazi sympathizer and calls himself a “satirist” and internet troll.