Pro-Jewish Groups Back Ingrassia's Nomination to Head Office of Special Counsel

Epoch Times

4 hours ago

Three pro-Jewish groups are throwing their support behind President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel and urge the Senate to advance his confirmation.
Paul Ingrassia, an attorney and former podcast host who Trump has tapped to investigate federal government wrongdoing, was scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on July 24 before the panel put his hearing on hold.
Ingrassia's nomination has faced scrutiny from opponents over alleged ties to individuals with anti-Semitic beliefs, which Ingrassia has vigorously denied.
The Israeli Heritage Foundation, Combat Antisemitism Movement, and Zionist Organization of America have stepped forward to back Ingrassia for the role, saying they view him as an ally.
'Anyone who knows Paul knows that he can outwork his peers and is a victim of jealousy,' Israeli Heritage Foundation President Stephen Soloway wrote in a letter to committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Soloway called Ingrassia a 'real 'mensch,'' citing Ingrassia's interest in participating in the organization's speakers' program.
Soloway, also an ambassador of the Israeli Defense and Security Forum, said his letter is 'not an endorsement for a political position or job,' but rather 'a statement regarding the character of this fine man: A true friend of the Jewish people.'
Staffed by about 110 employees, the Office of Special Counsel is an independent federal agency with broad prosecutorial and investigative powers to probe fraud, waste, and abuse in the executive branch. It can access agency records and subpoena witnesses, and plays a crucial role in protecting whistleblowers from retaliation.
Ingrassia pointed to the office's newly-launched investigation into Jack Smith, the Department of Justice special counsel who opened two federal criminal cases against Trump during the Biden administration. The high stakes involved in the new investigation have made the nomination particularly contentious, Ingrassia said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
Morton Klein, leader of the Zionist Organization of America, was cited in a July 9 CNN article as stating he didn't know Ingrassia and hadn't endorsed him. After the article was published, however, Klein clarified his position, saying that while he 'didn't clearly recall endorsing him' at the time, he had in fact done so in late June during a Newsmax interview.
Klein told Paul and ranking member Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) in a July 17 letter that speaking with Ingrassia further had strengthened his support.
He mentioned Ingrassia's 'heartfelt emotion' when the pair spoke about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Klein said Ingrassia described it as 'monstrous atrocity of murder, rape and torture against innocent Jews reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust;' words that Klein said resonated with him, as a child of Holocaust survivors who had lost most of his family.
Some Democratic lawmakers who object to Ingrassia's confirmation have cited his alleged links to Nick Fuentes, a far-right political pundit who has promoted hatred against Jews.
Ingrassia said that while he argued against Fuentes's suspension from X in a Substack article, the point was not to support Fuentes, but rather to advocate 'that no one gets censored' by the platform 'unless they violate the First Amendment.'
'That would include a lot of people who were silenced over the last five years and that was the extent of any sort of connection,' Ingrassia told The Epoch Times.
In their conversation, Klein said Ingrassia condemned Fuentes's views on the Holocaust and Jews and described them as 'abhorrent and despicable.'
Arie Lipnick, who represents the board of governors for the global coalition Combat Antisemitism Movement, said in a letter to Paul that Ingrassia has pledged to provide educational resources on anti-Semitism as part of the effort to stem religious discrimination that Lipnick said has escalated in the United States at an alarming rate.
Lipnick requested that the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee advance Ingrassia 'without delay,' describing 'an urgent priority for the Jewish community to see nominees who will fight against the scourge of antisemitism confirmed to office.'
Klein, in his letter, asked the lawmakers to weigh the nomination on merit.
'His background as an attorney and commentator uniquely qualifies him for this position: a political outsider with a reformist mindset who is unafraid to identify and tackle waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement throughout our federal civil service,' he wrote.
At 30, Ingrassia is one of the youngest nominees for a high office in the administration, a factor that critics have cited when questioning his qualifications.
Since graduating from Cornell Law School in 2022, Ingrassia has twice served as a fellow at the conservative Claremont Institute and became an advisory board member for the New York Young Republican Club. He was a White House intern during Trump's first term and has worked as a law clerk at the McBride Law Firm, which is known for representing Jan. 6 defendants.
Ingrassia was the White House's liaison to the Justice Department at the start of the new administration before becoming the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security.
He said he has distinguished himself 'on the campaign trail as the president's go-to source for legal and political commentary.'
'I've written over 200 articles, over a million words over the last 2 years advocating for President Trump and the end of the weaponized justice system, the end of weaponized lawfare, and the president cited me alongside Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley and other prominent legal commentators in court,' he said.
At the Department of Homeland Security, Ingrassia said he has overseen the hiring of more than 200 political appointees, including vetting attorneys and policy specialists in areas ranging from immigration enforcement, cybersecurity, border security, and disaster management.