President Trump has nominated 30-year-old conservative lawyer Paul Ingrassia, to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government ethics office, despite Ingrassia's ties to multiple antisemitic extremists.
If confirmed by the Senate, Ingrassia would oversee the agency that enforces the Hatch Act, which limits government employees from engaging in certain partisan political activities, and provides protections to whistleblowers. (The agency is separate and distinct from special counsels appointed by the Department of Justice, such as Robert Mueller or Jack Smith, who investigate sensitive cases.)
As NPR reported earlier this month, Jewish civil rights leaders have raised concerns about Ingrassia's ties to extremists, particularly in light of the administration's stated commitment to fighting antisemitism.
The Trump Administration recently promoted Kingsley Wilson to the role of Pentagon press secretary over the objection of the American Jewish Committee, which said Wilson was "unfit" for government service, because she shared "antisemitic conspiracy theories lifted right out of the neo-Nazi playbook." The White House has justified the attempted deportation of international students and the withholding of billions of dollars in funding to universities as parts of a plan to combat antisemitic hate.
A storied US agency, one that began under President Kennedy in 1961 with the aim of...
