A MAGA star was left squirming when asked to condemn Nazi-praising correspondence in a leaked young Republicans group chat.
Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point USA spokesperson, was grilled about thousands of messages allegedly sent between members of the Young Republican National Federation, including one that said “I love Hitler.”
Kolvet, who also serves as the executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show, was speaking at a NewsNation town hall at the Kennedy Center as part of a broader conversation about political violence.
He was given multiple chances to condemn the messages, which include references to gas chambers and an array of racial slurs.
“We saw this Nazi group chat, which I’m sure you condemn, right?” liberal social media personality Adam Mockler asked him.
“We can talk about it,” Kolvet replied.
“Do you condemn it?” YouTube star Mockler asked again as fellow panelists Bill O’Reilly and Stephen A. Smith looked on.
The second time he was asked, Kolvet said, “I want to talk about it.”
Mockler then added, “So, you’re like JD Vance? You won’t condemn this?”
He was referring to the vice president’s comments after Politico reported on the messages. After initially saying he wouldn’t “join the pearl clutching” over the leaked chat, Vance then further downplayed the scandal in an appearance on The Charlie Kirk Show.
“The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys,” Vance said, according to The Guardian. “They tell edgy, offensive jokes. That’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke—telling a very offensive, stupid joke—is cause to ruin their lives.”
The Young Republican National Federation is for Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40, according to Politico.
The publication acquired months of Telegram correspondence between dozens of leaders of the organization from across the country.
The leaders mentioned in the reporting were from states including New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont. Members of the GOP have slammed them, and some have lost their political jobs, The Hill reports.
The 15,000-member Young Republican National Federation itself called for the resignation of those involved and condemned the “vile and inexcusable language revealed in the Politico article.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Turning Point USA for comment.
