Matt Gaetz, Trump's nominee for AG, has a history of anti-Semitic comments

president-elect Donald Trump nominated former Rep. Matt Gaetza Florida rioter who has been investigated by the Justice Department on allegations of sex trafficking and obstruction of justice, to lead the nation’s top law enforcement agency as U.S. attorney general on Wednesday.

The nomination has faced fierce criticism from both parties, not only because of the allegations that the DOJ ultimately dropped, but because of what many see as a history of anti-Jewish comments.

“Representative. Matt Gaetz has a long history of trafficking in anti-Semitism,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, in a statement message on Xformerly known as Twitter. “He should not be given any high office, let alone one that oversees the impartial implementation of our country’s laws.”

Gaetz has criticized the ADL, an organization that aims to “slander of the Jewish people”, called it a “racist organization‘ after it called on Fox News to fire then-host Tucker Carlson for promoting the ‘Grand substitution theory”, a conspiracy that often suggests that Jews are trying to replace white people in Western countries with non-white immigrants.

The former Florida congressman also said Carlson was “right about the substitution theory.”

The American Jewish Committee also urged Trump to “reconsider this nomination” and said the Senate has a “responsibility to reject it.”

“Matt Gaetz’s history of problematic comments — including perpetuating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories — should be disqualifying for anyone seeking to be America’s top law enforcement official,” the organization said. posted on social media.

USA TODAY contacted Trump and Gaetz for comment.

Gaetz relies on anti-Semitic claims

In 2024, Gaetz voted against a bill called the “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act,” which aimed to address anti-Semitism on college campuses by codifying a definition of anti-Semitism for the Department of Education to use when investigating allegations of discrimination.

Gaetz said anti-Semitism is “wrong,” but he disagreed with the bill’s definition.

“The bill says the definition of anti-Semitism includes “contemporary examples of anti-Semitism” identified by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). One such example includes: ‘…claims that Jews killed Jesus…’” Gaetz said on social media. “The Bible is clear. There is no myth or controversy about this. Therefore, I will not support this bill.”

Historians and theologians have long denied the false claim that Jews murdered Jesus, and this claim is widely accepted anti-Semitic trope.

Gaetz invites Holocaust denier to State of the Union

In 2018, Gaetz invited Charles Johnson to the State of the Union. Johnson, a digital antagonist who was permanently banned from Twitter after asking for help in “taking out” a Black Lives Matter activist, also denied the Holocaust in a Reddit Ask Me Anything.

‘I don’t believe the figure of six million and never have believed it’ Johnson said. “I think the Red Cross figures of 250,000 deaths in the camps due to typhoid are more realistic.”

Gaetz denied that Johnson was a Holocaust denier or white supremacist and insisted he did not know Johnson’s views before inviting him.

Gaetz and George Soros

In 2018, Gaetz suggested in a post on Twitter that George Soros may be behind alleged migrant caravans to the United States. Soros, a Jewish billionaire, is one frequent target of anti-Semitic tropes.

Gaetz again in 2023 Pamela Nadell askedthe director of the Jewish Studies program at American University, before the House Judiciary Committee on whether criticizing Soros is anti-Semitic.

Gaetz’s staff

In 2019, Gaetz hired Darren Beattie, a former White House speechwriter who had attended a conference with several white nationalists in 2016.

Beattie then left the White House in 2018 CNN reports this that he had spoken at the 2016 H.L. Mencken Club conference, which consistently featured famous white nationalists among attendees.

Beattie told CNN that his speech contained “nothing offensive.”