Citing antisemitism, Democratic lawmakers urge Trump to fire aide
White House counter-terrorism advisor Sebastian Gorka has denied being a fascist or antisemite.
By JTAUpdated: APRIL 23, 2017 00:21Sebastian Gorka(photo credit: GAGE SKIDMORE,Wikimedia Commons)
Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Donald Trump to dismiss an aide accused of being a member of a Hungarian far-right nationalist group.Reps. Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey, both from New York and Jewish, are sending a letter to Trump urging him to fire Sebastian Gorka, Politico reported on Friday. At least 18 House of Representatives members, all Democrats, have signed the letter.“As members of the US Congress who care deeply about fighting antisemitism at home and abroad, we urge you to immediately dismiss senior White House counterterrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka. Based on recent revelations about Mr. Gorka’s public support for and membership in several antisemitic and racist groups in Hungary, he is clearly unfit to serve in any position of responsibility in the White House,” the letter said, citing Gorka’s alleged ties to various far-right groups in Hungary.Earlier this month, The Forward published a 2007 recording in which Gorka said he was not opposed to the establishment of the Hungarian Guard, a nationalist militia that later was accused of racism and antisemitism.In 2009, a Hungarian court banned the guard.According to an article published last month by the Forward, Gorka, a native of Britain who is the son of Hungarian immigrants, allegedly is a member of the Historical Vitézi Rend. The group is a namesake of Vitézi Rend, a defunct order of merit that had existed as a state entity for 20 years, until 1944, under the rule of Miklos Horthy, Hungary’s Nazi-allied leader.Vitézi Rend was disbanded, outlawed and ceased to exist in the 1940s following the World War II defeat of Nazi Germany.Gorka has denied being a fascist or antisemite. In a statement published last month by Tablet, Gorka was quoted as writing, “I have never been a member of the Vitez Rend. I have never taken an oath of loyalty to the Vitez Rend.” The statement did not mention the Historical Vitézi Rend group.The letter by Engel and Lowey referred to the recording as well as reports of Gorka’s ties to the Vitézi Rend.Others who signed the letter include Reps. Brad Schneider of Illinois, Jerrod Nadler of New York and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.
In March, Nadler and three top Democratic senators voiced concern over reports of Gorka’s alleged membership in the Historical Vitézi Rend.Nadler sent a letter to Trump, and Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) sent one to the acting deputy attorney-general, Dana Boente, and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, urging them to investigate the circumstances of Gorka’s path to US citizenship, and whether he concealed his alleged membership in the group as part of his naturalization process.On Thursday, The Jerusalem Post announced that Gorka would be speaking at its annual conference on May 7 in New York.In his rare public appearance at the Post conference, Gorka is expected to speak about Trump’s policies concerning Israel and the Middle East, as well as threats posed by Iran and the general phenomenon of religiously motivated terrorism facing the West.Michael Wilner contributed to this report.