Jewish Democrats call on McCarthy to censure Gosar over staffer's reported beliefs

Several Jewish Democrats in Congress called on Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday, following reports that one of the Arizona congressman's staffers has previously expressed neo-Nazi and white supremacist beliefs.

The liberal news outlet Talking Points Memo reported last weekend that Wade Searle, Gosar’s digital director, was connected to a social media persona that was behind several accounts voicing support for white nationalist figure Nick Fuentes and was a relatively prominent figure among Fuentes’s followers, who are known as the “Groyper Army.”

Reps. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) accused Gosar on Tuesday of “harboring neo-Nazi extremists in his office.”

“The presence of a ‘Groyper’ in Rep. Gosar’s office is a betrayal to the safety and security of the American people and an indication that antisemitic individuals and the white supremacist movement have infiltrated the halls of Congress,” they said in a letter to McCarthy.

“This staffer is the latest example of a disturbing pattern that reflects Rep. Gosar’s lack of moral judgment,” they added. “Rep. Gosar has a long history of associating with White nationalists and neo-Nazi extremists, and has used both his personal and official platforms to promote antisemitism and the Great Replacement Theory.”

The Great Replacement Theory is a conspiracy theory that claims there is an “active, ongoing and covert effort to replace white populations,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The theory inspired a racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., last year, as well as a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. 

“We’re asking that you stand as an ally to the Jewish people at home and that you take a strong stand against the antisemitism and white supremacy flourishing in your own party,” the congressmen added in Tuesday’s letter. “The Capitol is no place for the employment of neo-Nazis or for people who espouse the ideology of white supremacy.”

Another member of Gosar’s staff, Landen Peterson, was also reportedly linked to the pro-Fuentes accounts, according to Talking Points Memo.

Gosar was previously censured and stripped of his committee assignments in November 2021, after he posted an anime-style video showing him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and attacking President Biden.