President-elect Donald Trump has nominated controversial radio commentator Sebastian Gorka to a spot in his second administration, round six years after Gorka was pressured out of Trump’s first administration over his far-right views.
Gorka will function deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism, Trump stated in a Friday statement.
Trump touted him as “a authorized immigrant to the US, with greater than 30 years of Nationwide Safety expertise.”
Gorka was born in London to Hungarian mother and father, and spent years in Hungary working on the nation’s protection ministry earlier than shifting to the US, the place he has instructed U.S. Marines on counterterrorism subjects.
He gained notoriety within the first Trump administration for feedback describing Islam as not a religion but a violent ideology, and for dismissing the specter of white nationalism in the US, arguing as an alternative that Islamist extremists have been the nation’s greatest menace.
Gorka’s alleged ties to the Nazi-aligned Hungarian political group Vitézi Rend, whose insignia he wore at Trump’s first inaugural ball, additionally raised alarm bells within the first Trump White Home.
The unique Vitézi Rend collaborated with Nazis throughout World Battle II, and reformed after the autumn of Hungary’s communist authorities in 1989. The Ahead, a Jewish publication, reported in March 2017 that Gorka was a sworn member of the hate group.
Gorka has stated that the medals he wore belonged to his father, who was supposedly given them as “a declaration for his resistance to [Communist] dictatorship,” as Gorka told Breitbart.
In response to the Ahead allegation, Rep. Jerry Nadler wrote to Trump asking him to find out whether or not Gorka was certainly a member of Vitézi Rend, and whether or not he had omitted any such hyperlink in his paperwork to turn into a naturalized American citizen. Gorka left the White Home 5 months later.
Then-White Home Chief of Employees John Kelly — who has since warned that Trump would rule like a dictator if given a second time period — reportedly revoked Gorka’s safety clearance, making it unattainable for Gorka to do his job.
Gorka’s spouse, Katharine Gorka, continued on in her submit within the first Trump White Home previous her husband’s tenure, reportedly serving to to finish funding for a bunch that fights white supremacy within the lead-up to the lethal 2017 Charlottesville rally.
Former Trump-era nationwide safety adviser John Bolton slammed Gorka as a “con man” throughout an look on CNN Friday night time.
