House Speaker Mike Johnson was pressed on whether he was concerned about “pro-Hitler sentiment” among young Republicans after several examples of alleged extremist and racist behavior within the GOP were exposed.
Johnson was asked to respond after a Young Republicans group chat was found to feature a slew of racist and sexist messages, including one stating, “I love Hitler.”
Soon after the chat was leaked, police were called to the office of Ohio Rep. Dave Taylor after a video surfaced showing one of his staffers displaying an American flag with stripes forming a swastika behind him.
After rolling his eyes when asked whether he was concerned about the prominence of Nazi sentiment in his party, Johnson replied: “No! Look, obviously, we roundly condemn any of that nonsense. The Young Republican, or the organization—I don’t know who any of these people are, I’ve never heard of them.”
Johnson added that he had seen photos of himself next to some of those believed to have been in the racist group chat, but said they were likely taken during President Donald Trump’s inauguration celebrations, when “thousands” of people were “just coming up and asking for selfies.”
“But whoever these young people are, and whatever they’re saying—if it’s true—we obviously condemn that,” Johnson said.
The group chat, exposed by Politico, featured several leaders associated with the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s official organization for members aged 18 to 40. Mother Jones reported that eight of the 11 Republicans in the chat were between 24 and 35 years old.
Among them was 31-year-old Peter Giunta, former chair of the New York State Young Republicans, who referred to Black people as “watermelon people” and “monkeys” and wrote “I love Hitler” during an exchange about appealing to delegates by being “the most right-wing person.”
In total, the chat contained more than 250 slurs, including multiple uses of the n-word and the homophobic f-slur.
Elsewhere, a U.S. flag bearing a swastika allegedly appeared in a Zoom call featuring one of Rep. Taylor’s staffers, Angelo Elia. Taylor said he contacted Capitol Police to investigate the incident after becoming aware of the “vile and deeply inappropriate symbol” allegedly shown by his employee.
“The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms,” Taylor said in a statement.
During Thursday’s press event, Johnson reiterated that such far-right extremism is “not the principles of the Republican Party.”
“We stand for the founding principles of America. You want me to articulate them for you right now? Individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, human dignity, the things that lead to human flourishing,” Johnson said.
“We fought the Nazis. We defeated that evil ideology. We roundly condemn it, and anybody in any party who espouses it. I don’t know how to say it more simply than that.”
