President Donald Trump posed for a photo last year with two members of the Young Republican National Federation who were part of a chat group outed this week for its racist messaging.
The group’s vile messages received bipartisan condemnation, apart from Vice President JD Vance, who dismissed the outrage over the often pro-Nazi and anti-Black messages as “pearl clutching.”
The photo from a 2024 campaign rally shows Trump giving his signature thumbs-up alongside Peter Giunta, one of the most prominent members in the Telegram group chat and the former president of the New York State Young Republicans.
Giunta allegedly referred to Black people as “monkeys” and praised Adolf Hitler in the leaked messages obtained by Politico.
Anne KayKaty, who was a national committee member of the Young Republicans, also appears in the photo with Giunta and Trump, first obtained by HuffPost.
KayKaty allegedly told the chat group that she “wanted to watch people burn” as they joked about sending their political rivals to the gas chambers.
The White House downplayed the significance of the photo of the president with two of the Young Republicans implicated in the chat.
“All presidents, including President Trump, take tens of thousands of pictures over the course of their campaign,” a White House official said in a statement.
Speaker Mike Johnson weighed in on the controversy Thursday and volunteered that he has also been pictured with one of Young Republicans in the chat group. He said he had “never heard of that person in [his] life.”
“I think it was at the inauguration, and people were just coming up and asking for selfies, a thousand of them, I don’t know,” Johnson said. “But whoever these young people are, and whatever they’re saying, if it’s true, we obviously condemn that, and the organizations involved are dealing with that.”
Elsewhere, Vance brushed off the racist, antisemitic and sexist texts sent by the group as something that “kids do.”
“The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys,” the vice president said. “They tell edgy, offensive jokes.”
But it wasn’t just kids, as Vance colored it, as people between 18 and 40 can register with the Young Republican National Federation — and Giunta is 31.
Giunta has since been fired from his job as New York Assemblyman Mike Reilly’s chief of staff and the Young Republican national organization has urged all members implicated in the group chat to resign.
Giunta was also pictured with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik earlier this year and she endorsed him in his bid to become chair of the Young Republican National Federation.
Stefanik was “absolutely appalled” to learn of the allegations against Giunta and other members of the chat, senior adviser Alex deGrasse told Politico.
Giunta apologized for the “inexcusable language” and said he took “complete responsibility,” but also told Politico that he questioned the veracity of the messages.
The former GOP adviser said the leak was “disheartening” because of his “unwavering support” for Trump and claimed that he spoke with the White House about seeking an endorsement in his bid to become chairman of the national organization last year.
The Trump administration and the Republican National Committee remained neutral.
