Trump nominates former podcast host with history of inflammatory comments for top ethics job

President Donald Trump has nominated Paul Ingrassia, a erstwhile podcast big with a agelong past of inflammatory remarks, to caput the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

“Paul is simply a highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar, who has done a tremendous occupation serving arsenic my White House Liaison for Homeland Security,” Trump said successful a station connected his societal media level Truth Social announcing the information Thursday night.

Ingrassia is simply a far-right erstwhile podcaster and commentator with a lengthy database of incendiary comments. He has called for Jan. 6 to beryllium declared a nationalist vacation to grant the “peaceful protestation against a large injustice affecting our electoral system” and dismissed the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught connected Israel arsenic a “psyop.”

He has worked for and praised “manosphere” influencer Andrew Tate, who’s facing rape and quality trafficking charges, calling him an “extraordinary quality being.” He has referred to Tate arsenic “a dissident of authoritarianism” — a rubric helium has said applies arsenic good to achromatic nationalist Nick Fuentes, the rapper Ye and Trump.

He has besides called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to beryllium jailed, and referred to erstwhile Vice President Mike Pence arsenic an “FBI asset.”

Ingrassia graduated from Cornell Law successful 2022, joined blimpish deliberation vessel The Claremont Institute aboriginal that year, became a person successful the New York Young Republican Club, and past went connected to beryllium a predominant beingness astatine Trump rallies and Mar-a-Lago successful 2023 and 2024.

He’s presently moving arsenic the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security and was formerly the administration’s liaison to the Justice Department, wherever he’d been seen walking the halls, touting the president’s docket and telling radical helium was acting arsenic the “eyes and ears” of the White House.

His station astatine the Office of Special Counsel volition necessitate Senate confirmation.

The OSC is an autarkic national investigative and prosecuting agency, tasked with shielding national employees from prohibited unit practices, including retaliation for whistleblowing.

The bureau caput is confirmed to a five-year term, but Trump fired then-OSC caput Hampton Dellinger earlier this year. Dellinger, a Biden nominee who was confirmed to the station past year, fought his dismissal successful tribunal but yet dropped the suit.

Ingrassia thanked Trump for nominating him successful a station connected X.

“As Special Counsel, my squad and I volition marque each effort to reconstruct competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with precedence connected eliminating waste, fraud, and maltreatment successful the national workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness successful Hatch Act enforcement,” helium wrote.