Trump picks right-wing lawyer and podcaster who promoted 2020 election lies as watchdog agency head
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's pick to lead a federal watchdog agency is a former right-wing podcast host who has praised criminally charged influencer Andrew Tate as a 'extraordinary human being' and promoted the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Paul Ingrassia would lead the Office of Special Counsel, an agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers that is also responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, which restricts the partisan political activities of government workers.
Trump described Ingrassia in a social media post on Thursday as a 'highly respected attorney, writer and Constitutional Scholar.' Ingrassia was most recently working as the White House liaison for Homeland Security after briefly serving in the liaison position at the Justice Department.
Ingrassia called his nomination the 'highest honor.' Ingrassia didn't immediately respond to a message on Friday.
'As Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement,' Ingrassia wrote on social media.
Ingrassia worked for a law firm whose clients included Andrew and Tristan Tate, the influencer brothers charged in Britain and Romania with rape and human trafficking. Ingrassia has described Andrew Tate, the former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist, as an 'extraordinary human being' and 'the ancient ideal of excellence.'
'It is for this reason that he and his brother have become public enemies number one and two in the eyes of the Matrix, the deep state, and the satanic elite that attempt to systematically program and oppress all men from womb-to-tomb – a form of communism that not even Karl Marx, in his wildest dreams, could have imagined,' Ingrassia wrote in a 2023 social media post.
Ingrassia that same year published a Substack post titled 'Free Nick Fuentes,' criticizing then-Twitter's decision to suspend the account of the far-right activist who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white supremacist rhetoric. Ingrassia was seen in 2024 at a rally where Fuentes spoke, The Intercept reported.
Ingrassia previously told NPR that he did not intend to go the impromptu Fuentes rally, which was near another event, adding: 'I had no knowledge of who organized the event, observed for 5-10 minutes, then left.'
The day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Ingrassia wrote on social media: 'This 'war' is yet another psyop to distract Americans from celebrating Columbus Day.' Days later, he wrote: 'I think we could all admit at this stage that Israel/Palestine, much like Ukraine before it, and BLM before that, and covid/vaccine before that, was yet another psyop.'
Ingrassia has also promoted the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, publishing a piece in November that argued that Trump's win over Kamala Harris proved 'beyond all doubt' that the 2020 race was 'fraudulent.'
The Office of Special Counsel is an independent agency separate from Justice Department special counsels, who are appointed by the attorney general for specific investigations, like Jack Smith. Trump in February fired the previous special counsel, Hampton Dellinger, leading to a legal battle.
A federal judge in Washington initially ruled that Dellinger's firing was illegal, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit later ruled that the Trump administration could replace Dellinger while the legal battle played out. Dellinger ultimately abandoned his fight to get his job back, acknowledging that he was facing likely long odds before the Supreme Court.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
40 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
The UK seeks to send a message to Moscow as it outlines higher defense spending
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. is about to see the biggest increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War as it seeks to send 'a message to Moscow,' the British defense secretary said Sunday. John Healey said the Labour government's current plans for defense spending will be enough to transform the country's military following decades of retrenchment, though he does not expect the number of soldiers — currently at a historic low — to rise until the early 2030s. He said plans for defense spending to hit 2.5% of national income by 2027, which amounts to an extra 13 billion pounds ($17 billion) or so a year, were 'on track' and that there was 'no doubt' it would hit 3% in the next parliament in the early 2030s. The government will on Monday respond to a strategic defense review, overseen by Healey and led by Lord George Robertson, a former NATO secretary general and defense secretary in a previous Labour government. It is expected to be the most consequential review since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, and make a series of recommendations for the U.K. to deal with the new threat environment, both on the military front and in cyberspace. Like other NATO members, the U.K. has been compelled to take a closer look at its defense spending since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 'This is a message to Moscow,' Healey told the BBC. 'This is Britain standing behind, making our armed forces stronger but making our industrial base stronger, and this is part of our readiness to fight, if required.' U.S. President Donald Trump has also piled pressure on NATO members to bolster their defense spending. And in recent months, European countries, led by the U.K. and France, have scrambled to coordinate their defense posture as Trump transforms American foreign policy, seemingly sidelining Europe as he looks to end the war in Ukraine. Trump has long questioned the value of NATO and complained that the U.S. provides security to European countries that don't pull their weight. Healey also said Russia is 'attacking the U.K. daily' as part of some 90,000 cyber attacks from state-linked sources that were directed at the U.K,'s defense over the last two years. A cyber command to counter such threats is expected to be set up as part of the review. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'The tensions are greater but we prepare for war in order to secure the peace,' he said. 'If you're strong enough to defeat an enemy, you deter them from attacking in the first place.' While on a visit to a factory on Saturday where Storm Shadow missiles are assembled, Healey said the government would support the procurement of up to 7,000 U.K.-built long-range weapons and that new funding will see U.K. munitions spending hitting 6 billion pounds in the coming years. 'Six billion over the next five years in factories like this which allow us not just to produce the munitions that equip our forces for the future but to create the jobs in every part of the U.K.,' he said. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary for the main opposition Conservative Party, welcomed the government's pledge to increase defense spending but said he was 'skeptical' as to whether the Treasury would deliver. He called on the government to be more ambitious and raise spending to 3% of national income within this parliament, which can run until 2029. 'We think that 2034 is a long time to wait, given the gravity of the situation,' he told Sky News.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Road accident in northern Nigeria kills 22 athletes returning from a sports festival
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A bus veered off a bridge in Nigeria's northern state of Kano, killing at least 22 athletes returning home from a sports festival and leaving several other passengers injured, the state's governor said. The cause of the accident, which happened on Saturday, was not immediately known. The athletes had taken part in the Nigerian National Sports Festival in the southern state of Ogun over the last week.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
12 Ukrainian soldiers killed in Russian strike on army training unit
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 12 Ukrainian service members were killed and more than 60 were injured in a Russian missile strike on the location of a Ukrainian army training unit Sunday, according to a statement from the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The strike occurred at 12:50 p.m. the statement said, emphasizing that no formations or mass gatherings of personnel were being held at the time. An investigative commission was created to uncover the circumstances around the attack that led to such a loss in personnel, the statement said.
