Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is asking the White House to hand President Trump aide Sebastian Gorka’s immigration paperwork over to the House Judiciary Committee.
In a letter addressed to Trump, Nadler cites a report in The Forward, an American Jewish news outlet, linking Gorka to a far-right group in Hungary, saying that the judiciary panel needs to “be assured that he did not enter this country under false pretenses.”
“If Sebastian Gorka is indeed a member of this organization, as high-ranking leaders of the organization claim he is, he would have been required to disclose this information on his immigration application, and on his application to be a naturalized U.S. citizen,” the letter reads.
{mosads}“Failing to do so, he may have been withholding important material facts about his background from the United States, in violation of the law.”
Because of the group’s historical ties to Nazi Germany, Nadler writes, State Department guidelines would not likely have allowed Gorka to enter the U.S.
The Forward reported on Thursday that Gorka was a formal member of the Historical Vitézi Rend, a Hungarian far-right group whose predecessor, the Vitézi Rend, was recognized by the State Department as under the direction of the Nazis.
The report quotes two current members of the the Vitézi Rend confirming that Gorka had taken an oath swearing allegiance to the group and to Hungary, and notes that he has occasionally presented his name as Sebastian L. v. Gorka, the “v.” being used by Vitézi Rend members.
It also points out that Gorka wore a Vitézi Rend medal during a Trump inauguration ball.
Gorka, a top counterterrorism adviser to Trump, was born in the United Kingdom in 1970 to Hungarian parents. He became a U.S. citizen in 2012. He fervently denied the allegations in The Forward’s story on Thursday.
“I have never been a member of the Vitez Rend. I have never taken an oath of loyalty to the Vitez Rend,” he told Tablet Magazine. “Since childhood, I have occasionally worn my father’s medal and used the ‘v.’ initial to honor his struggle against totalitarianism.”
Gorka made a similar statement in an interview with Eternal World Television Network last month, discussing his father’s personal experiences with totalitarian regimes.
“My family has lived under totalitarianism, be it fascist, be it communist,” he said at the time.