Trump’s nominee to lead US Office of Special Counsel refutes antisemitic claims

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) sat down with Fox News Digital to address a barrage of attacks from Democrats and the media as he heads toward his Senate confirmation.

Paul Ingrassia, a Cornell Law School graduate from Long Island, New York, was nominated by President Trump at the end of May to lead OSC, a nonpartisan, independent agency mainly responsible for investigating and protecting federal whistle-blowers, and enforcing the Hatch Act, which restricts federal employees from using federal funds for political gain.

Ingrassia, who is just 30 years old and served as White House liaison to the Department of Justice before being reassigned to the Department of Homeland Security in Trump’s second term, has faced heavy criticism from Democrats and the mainstream media leading up to his Senate confirmation hearing.

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Concerns mainly surround his young age paired with antisemitic allegations, which Ingrassia has sternly denied. 

“I’m not an antisemite,” Ingrassia said on a call with Fox News Digital. “The hit piece and the smears that are being propagated by CNN is just a total lie.”

“The fact that they’re smearing me as a Holocaust denier, I think it’s disgusting,” Ingrassia continued. “I grew up in New York, New York, where there were within my own neighborhood survivors of the Holocaust three houses down from me and I [listened] to their stories. I understand that we can never go through something like that ever again.”

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Nick Fuentes speaks as America First protesters gather in front of Gracie Mansion to protest vaccination mandates in New York City on Nov. 13, 2021. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency)

Ingrassia is alleged to have ties with fringe figure Nick Fuentes, an openly outspoken antisemite and Holocaust denier. 

Trump’s OSC nominee previously posted to X that Fuentes should be allowed to speak at a Talking Point USA conference last year, arguing that “conservatives should always uphold the first amendment,” referring to Fuentes as a “dissident” voice. 

But when asked about antisemitism broadly, Ingrassia made clear that his views on the matter do not align with those of Fuentes.

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“I’ve done a lot currently in my role as a White House liaison to advance Jewish patriots and many jobs across the federal government,” Ingrassia told Fox. “I think what happened on Oct. 7 was, you know, an atrocity, a tragedy, and I never want to see something like that happen again.”

Israeli army soldiers search the remains of a torched vehicle for forensic evidence at the site of the Oct. 7 attack on the Supernova desert music festival in the Negev desert in southern Israel on Oct. 13, 2023. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images))

CNN also claimed that various Jewish advocacy groups didn’t know who Ingrassia was and did not endorse him, with one of those groups being the Zionist Organization of America. However, the organization’s national president was quick to dispute the claim. 

“A CNN article [said] that I never endorsed Paul Ingrassia for his nomination of a position with OSC,” Morton Klein, national president for the Zionist Organization of America, told Fox News Digital. 

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“In fact, I merely stated that I didn’t clearly recall endorsing him. But upon further reflection, I now recall that I did endorse him during a recent Newsmax interview. And since then, I’ve had further conversations with Paul Ingrassia which only strengthened my support of having him confirmed.”

“He also made clear to me that he finds ‘Fuentes views on denying the Holocaust and viciously and inappropriately condemning the Jewish State of Israel abhorrent and despicable,’” Klein said. 

“Free Palestine” graffiti on a fence praising the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre against Israelis. (Executive Council of Australian Jewry )

CNN also quoted Jonathan Burkan, a Trump-appointed member of the Holocaust Memorial Council, as another Jewish advocate who does not support Ingrassia.

But Burkan told Fox News Digital: “On a personal level, I know Paul to be a good man who is not an antisemite nor a Holocaust denier.”

“I am confident based on my conversations with him that he is a friend and an ally of the Jewish community, and anything to the contrary is a vicious and disgusting smear against him.” 

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The timeline for Ingrassia’s Senate confirmation hearing and confirmation is unclear, but he will likely face questions surrounding similar topics when facing Congress. 

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X @MizellPreston