(JTA) — Two Democratic Jewish Congress members have called on the White House to condemn anti-Semitic comments by TruNews founder and host Rick Wiles and deny TruNews any future access to the White House.
Reps. Ted Deutch of Florida and Elaine Luria of Virginia sent a letter on Monday to White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney expressing surprise that TruNews participated in White House media events and President Donald Trump took a question from the website during a news conference.
In a video posted to the conservative TruNews YouTube channel on Nov. 22, Wiles, a Florida pastor known for his anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, called the effort to impeach Trump a “Jew Coup,” and said that Jews also will “kill millions of Christians” after they overthrow Trump.
YouTube banned the channel following the rant.
“As members of Congress, we are committed to combating and preventing anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds,” the letter signed by Deutch and Luria reads. “We believe that this requires a whole-of-government approach, including public statements by our national leaders to consistently and firmly reject anti-Semitic ideas, language, and violence.”
The letter continues: “An extremist website that frequently attacks Jews and other minorities has no place in the White House. President Trump and other officials in this Administration should publicly condemn these anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and make clear that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated by this White House, including from its supporters.”
