House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked if he was worried about “pro-Hitler feelings” among young Republicans after several reports about extremist and racist actions by members of the GOP.
Johnson faced questions after a group chat from the Young Republicans was found to have many racist and sexist messages, including one that said, “I love Hitler.”
Shortly after the chat was posted online, police were called to the office of Ohio Representative Dave Taylor because a video showed one of his staff members holding an American flag with stripes that formed a swastika shape behind them.
When asked if he was concerned about the spread of Nazi ideas within his party, Johnson rolled his eyes and said, “No!
Obviously, we strongly 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.”
He also mentioned that he had seen photos of himself with some people who were believed to be part of the racist group chat, but said they were likely from President Donald Trump’s inauguration when “thousands” of people were “just coming up and asking for selfies.
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“But whoever these young people are, and whatever they’re saying—if it’s true—we obviously condemn that,” Johnson said.
The group chat, revealed by Politico, included several leaders from the Young Republican National Federation, the official GOP group for people aged 18 to 40.
Mother Jones reported that eight of the 11 Republicans in the chat were between 24 and 35 years old.
One of them was Peter Giunta, a 31-year-old former chair of the New York State Young Republicans, who called Black people “watermelon people” and “monkeys” and wrote “I love Hitler” in a conversation about trying to appeal to delegates by being “the most right-wing person.”
The chat had more than 250 slurs, including the n-word and the f-slur used multiple times.
Elsewhere, a U.S. flag with a swastika was reportedly shown in a Zoom call with one of Rep. Taylor’s staffers, Angelo Elia.
Taylor contacted Capitol Police to investigate the incident after learning about the “vile and deeply inappropriate symbol” allegedly displayed 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 repeated that far-right extremism is “not the principles of the Republican Party.”
“We stand for the founding principles of America,” Johnson said.
“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.”
“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.”
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