President Donald Trump has nominated Paul Ingrassia, a former podcast host with a long history of inflammatory remarks, to head the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPaul is a highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar, who has done a tremendous job serving as my White House Liaison for Homeland Security,\u201d Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social announcing the nomination Thursday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ingrassia is a far-right former podcaster and commentator with a lengthy list of incendiary comments. He has called for Jan. 6 to be declared a national holiday\u2002<\/a>to honor the \u201cpeaceful protest against a great injustice affecting our electoral system\u201d and dismissed the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel as a \u201cpsyop<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has worked for and praised \u201cmanosphere\u201d influencer Andrew Tate<\/a>, who\u2019s facing rape and human trafficking charges, calling him an \u201cextraordinary human being.\u201d He has referred to Tate as \u201ca dissident of authoritarianism\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a title he has said applies as well to white nationalist Nick Fuentes<\/a>, the rapper Ye and Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has also called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be jailed, and referred to former Vice President Mike Pence as an \u201cFBI asset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ingrassia graduated from Cornell Law in 2022, joined conservative think tank The Claremont Institute later that year, became a leader in the New York Young Republican Club, and then went on to be a frequent presence at Trump rallies and Mar-a-Lago<\/a> in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s currently working as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security and was formerly the administration\u2019s liaison to the Justice Department, where he\u2019d been seen walking the halls, touting the president\u2019s agenda and telling people he was acting as the \u201ceyes and ears\u201d of the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His post at the Office of Special Counsel will require Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The OSC is an independent federal investigative and prosecuting agency, tasked with shielding federal employees from prohibited personnel practices, including retaliation for whistleblowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The agency head is confirmed to a five-year term, but Trump fired then-OSC head Hampton Dellinger\u2002<\/a>earlier this year. Dellinger, a Biden nominee who was confirmed to the post last year, fought his dismissal in court but eventually dropped the suit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ingrassia thanked Trump for nominating him in a post on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch \u2014 with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n