Photo: Congress
Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Office of Special Counsel, has withdrawn his nomination following widespread backlash over racist messages he sent.
In a post on Tuesday (October 21) evening, Ingrassia said he was pulling out of the confirmation process because he didn’t have “enough Republican votes" after his inflammatory text messages were leaked.
“I will continue to serve President Trump and this administration to Make America Great Again!” Ingrassia said.
The withdrawal came after POLITICO published the racist text messages ahead of Ingrassia's scheduled confirmation hearing on Thursday (October 23).
In the texts, Ingrassia confessed, “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.” He also suggested that Martin Luther King Jr. Day belongs in "hell."
“MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs," Ingrassia reportedly wrote.
The texts sparked bipartisan criticism and calls for the White House to withdraw his nomination. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee where Ingrassia was set to testify Thursday, announced his opposition, effectively dooming his confirmation.
While Ingrassia’s attorney questioned the authenticity of the messages, he also claimed that if real, they were satirical and taken out of context.
Ingrassia has also faced scrutiny for his history of conspiracy theories, anti-Israel rhetoric, and ties to known White nationalists and Holocaust deniers.
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