Amid Steve King White Supremacy Scandal, Congressmen Meet With Holocaust Skeptic
Internet troll Chuck Johnson, who has said he doesn’t believe in Auschwitz and its gas chambers, met with two Republican lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday — to talk about genetics, the The Daily Beast reported.
Representatives Andy Harris and Phil Roe were spotted walking with Johnson, HuffPost reporter Matt Fuller first noted Wednesday on Twitter. The meeting between Johnson, Harris and Roe came just days after the Minority Leader of the House stripped Congressman Steve King of his committee assignments, citing his public defense of white supremacy.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that Chuck C. Johnson walking with Reps. Phil Roe and Andy Harris?
Both waited for him to get through security. pic.twitter.com/ybfdK8Bwqy
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) January 16, 2019
Johnson is a former Breitbart News reporter, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. In an “Ask Reddit” session from January 2017, he said, “I do not and never have believed the 6 million figure,” referring to the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust. He also said he agrees with Holocaust denier David Cole about “Auschwitz and the gas chambers not being real.”
Harris and Roe claim they weren’t aware of Johnson’s rhetoric.
“Of course I disavow and condemn white supremacy and anti-semitism,” Harris wrote in a joint statement.
“Congressman Roe was not aware of this individual’s viewpoints nor were they discussed during their brief meeting, and had the congressman been aware he would not have agreed to take the meeting,” it continued. “White supremacist and anti-Semitic views are abhorrent and have no place in our society.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30