Republican youth organization leaders across four states exchanged thousands of messages containing Hitler praise, gas chamber jokes, and racial slurs over seven months while campaigning for control of their national federation, according to 2,900 pages of Telegram chats obtained by POLITICO. New York State Young Republicans leader Peter Giunta wrote, "I love Hitler" and stated "everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber" when discussing his chairman bid, while vice chair Bobby Walker described rape as "epic" and Kansas vice chair William Hendrix used racial slur variations more than a dozen times in the chat spanning early January through mid-August.
The messages reveal conversations where Black people are called monkeys and "the watermelon people," political opponents face threats of torture and suicide, and white supremacist symbols like "1488" appear alongside praise for Republicans perceived as supporting slavery. Epithets, including variations of racial and homophobic slurs, appeared more than 251 times combined throughout the communications shared among a dozen millennial and Gen Z Republicans, including Vermont state senator Samuel Douglass. "Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don't fit the Hitler aesthetic," Joe Maligno, who previously identified as general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote in response to Giunta's gas chamber comments, according to POLITICO.
Since POLITICO began inquiries, Hendrix lost his communications position with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, Walker's job offer managing Republican Peter Oberacker's congressional campaign was rescinded, and prominent Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik and State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, have denounced the chat while calling for resignations. Danedri Herbert, spokesperson for Kobach and Kansas GOP chair, confirmed that Hendrix is "no longer employed" after being shown chat excerpts. A spokesperson for the Oberacker campaign stated Walker won't be brought on in light of the comments.
Giunta claims the release constitutes "a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination led by Gavin Wax and the New York City Young Republican Club" and suggests the logs were obtained through extortion, though he apologized for "insensitive and inexcusable language" while raising concerns that message logs "may have been deceptively doctored." Walker similarly apologized, stating "there is no excuse for the language and tone in messages attributed to me" and suggesting portions "may have been altered, taken out of context, or otherwise manipulated." Michael Bartels, a senior adviser to the Trump administration in the Small Business Administration's general counsel office, who participated in the chat, provided a notarized affidavit obtained by POLITICO. The affidavit claims Wax "demanded" the full chat log and "threatened my professional standing" when he resisted.
Art Jipson, a University of Dayton professor who specializes in white racial extremism, stated the Young Republicans' conversations reminded him of online discussions between neo-Nazi and white supremacist group members after reviewing excerpts provided by POLITICO. "You say it once or twice, it's a joke, but you say it 251 times, it's no longer a joke," Jipson stated. "The more we repeat certain ideas, the more real they become to us." Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has studied racism for 60 years, warned the participants "will act on these views" and expressed concern the words would be applied to public policy.
Giunta, who serves as chief of staff to New York state assemblymember Mike Reilly, ultimately fell six points short of winning the chairmanship to lead the Young Republican National Federation earlier this year despite earning endorsements from Stefanik and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. Stefanik accepted an award from the New York State Young Republicans earlier this year and lauded Giunta for his "tremendous leadership" in August. Alex deGrasse, a senior adviser for Stefanik, stated the congresswoman "was absolutely appalled to learn about the alleged comments" and called for responsible parties to "step down immediately" if POLITICO's description is accurate. Stone stated he would "denounce any such comments in the strongest possible terms" if the chat is authentic.
While reporting this article, POLITICO was examining separate allegations that Giunta and the Young Republicans mismanaged the New York organization's finances and hadn't paid at least one venue for a holiday party hosted last year. Updated records show the organization is in more than $38,000 of debt. In the chat, Walker joked, "NYSYR will be declaring bankruptcy after this I just know it" and Giunta appeared to joke about draining funds for a vacation to Italy, with Walker replying, "Great. Can't wait to get sued by our venue." Walker had earlier joked about the possibility of exposure, writing, "If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr."
