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 fisher@forward.com, 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, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
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.