This time around, Trump has elected to ignore the F.B.I. security clearance vetting process for the sworn member of Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group that served under the Nazis.
Sebastian Gorka in 2018. (Gage Skidmore, Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)
By John Kiriakou
Special to Consortium News
Sebastian Gorka is back. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump last week named Gorka as the administration’s “terrorism czar” on the National Security Council. Trump has made a series of disastrous appointments to his administration since his election on Nov. 5. But this might be the worst. Don’t remember Sebastian Gorka?
Eight years ago, when Trump was elected president for the first time, Gorka was one of his more controversial appointments as “deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs,” that is, deputy national security adviser. That’s a hugely important position. The deputy national security advisor assists the president in managing the entire intelligence community and manages the administration’s anti-terrorism efforts. But Gorka immediately ran into trouble.
As it turned out, Gorka was, apparently, a sworn member of Hungary’s neo-Nazi Vitezi Rend, or “Order of Heroes,” a group that the State Department says was “under the direction of the Nazi Government of Germany during World War II” and which continues to be neo-Nazi in its orientation.
Gorka only became an American citizen in 2012, and membership should have disqualified him not only from citizenship, but even from entering the United States in the first place.
Furthermore, at Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, Gorka actually wore the uniform and badge of the Vitezi Rend, and the Times of Israel newspaper reported that he may even have inherited them from his Nazi grandfather.
A Jewish newspaper, The Forward, broke the news of Gorka’s membership in Vitezi Rend. It said that the group’s own leaders confirm that Gorka took a “lifelong oath of loyalty.” (Gorka has ignored multiple email requests for comment.)
Bruce Einhorn, a retired immigration judge and current professor of nationality law at Pepperdine University, told The Forward that Gorka’s “silence speaks volumes.” Einhorn continued that Gorka’s “failure to disclose a material fact,” his membership in a racist organization that promotes violence, could undermine the validity of both his immigration status and his claim to U.S. citizenship. No statute of limitations exists for such a violation.
To make matters even more revolting, according to The Forward, men who have sworn allegiance to the Vitezi Rend are permitted to take a lowercase “v” as a middle initial and as a secret symbol of brotherhood. Gorka used the “v,” signing his name in both his 2008 doctoral thesis and in his testimony before Congress in 2011, as “Sebastian L. v. Gorka.” In the end, the F.B.I. wouldn’t give Gorka a security clearance and, after only seven months, he was forced to resign.
This time around, however, Trump has elected to ignore the F.B.I. security clearance vetting process and has announced that Gorka will be the deputy national security adviser and terrorism czar. Period. The role does not require Senate confirmation and, technically, Trump can simply decree that Gorka will receive a top secret security clearance; F.B.I. be damned.
There actually has been some fallout from the appointment. Michael Anton, a national security official in Trump’s first term who was in line to be deputy national security adviser took himself out of contention when he was told that there would be a position waiting for Gorka, according to The Washington Post.
The Israeli media, which has long been a source of support for Trump, is furious that an overt anti-Semite will hold such a position of authority. And an unnamed member of the Trump national security transition team told the Post, “Almost universally, the entire team considers Gorka to be a clown. They’re dreading working with him.”
Gorka has been largely silent since the election. He has only given interviews to his old friend and colleague Steve Bannon and, he says, he provided Israel with advice on how to confront Hamas. What was that advice? “Kill every single one of them. God bless Israel. God bless Judeo-Christian civilization.” That’s a strange position for a Nazi.
John Kiriakou is a former C.I.A. counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act — a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Relying on the FBI these days to do anything legitimate is sort of a fool’s errand. As a result, with the Biden Administration’s complete mishandling of that agency along with the DOJ, why on god’s Earth would Trump care about their vetting processes?
As to Gorka’s selection itself, I have to agree with author and the commenters here regarding such an oddball selection. On the one hand, Trump has closely aligned himself with the barbaric Zionists and on the other, selects a sworn member of a known antisemitic organization. A very strange combination of circumstances indeed.
However, as one who has studied The Third Reich for many years and still sees how many Americans have no realistic understanding of what it was and what it was not, America could use a little National Socialism at this point…
Were there not Jews who collaborated with Nazis in the past extermination of other Jews? Were there not Jews who collaborated in the major propaganda scam that the only “safe” place for Jews is in their “very own” isolated territory, which coincidentally involved the genocide and ethnic cleansing of other innocents? There are groups who are majorly bad and groups that are majorly good, yet it is INDIVIDUALS that are accountable for their crimes, and INDIVIDUALS that are responsible for their own actions. People don’t understand what Hamas is, or its’ history. People don’t understand that Jews, like any group of people, or individuals, are safest where human rights (as in the articles of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights) are safest where human rights are a reality for ALL. They would be wise, as would we all, to learn these articles and to support them.
In the recent words of the esteemed Scott Ritter, regarding peace candidate Trump, “Trump is a liar.”
Speaking as a concerned outsider in Canada I’m extremely disappointed in Trumps picks in the area of foreign policy, which in these perilous time are the most important portfolios. I’m certain that many Americans voted for him as I would have ,purely and simply because of his alleged promise of ending the Ukrainian fiasco and staying on course to end unnecessary military entanglements.
This has to be a huge disappointment and betrayal to those folks as he has proceeded to trot out the neocon B team.
with the final insult being this Gorka character. I believe Col Douglas MacGregor played an advisory role in his last administration so why in heavens name wouldn’t he make him his new advisor.Along with people like Jeffrey Sachs and John Merscheimer . This all makes zero sense. God help us. Seriously.
Hi Philip, a couple thoughts:
Trump is an inveterate and prolific liar. Taking him at his word on various campaign pronouncements requires ignoring his cartoonish mendacity.
Second, Trump’s track record with regard to foreign policy was not that of a dove, despite the chorus of credulous sycophants saying otherwise. From trashing arms limitation treaties and the Iran deal to escalating the tensions in Ukraine to drastically escalating the drone war to throwing gasoline on various middle eastern flashpoints- Trump was a blundering thug.
I’m glad you were saved the embarrassment of voting for Trump as a Canadian but perhaps a better news diet is in order?
Hi Clown?Sorry ( It’s a Canadian thing)
I can assure you in my 73yr. my News diet has and is wide and varied. That’s why I’ve been a Consortium fan since its inception by Mr.Parry. Perhaps that’s why my assessment of Trump isn’t quite as harsh as yours.
In fact Churchill’s famous description of Russia in some way could be ascribed to Trump. He’s “a riddle,wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. You call him an inveterate liar which implies always malicious intent. I’d classify his inclinations more towards gross embellishments , exaggerations or plain out ignorance of the facts. He’s certainly a man of great hubris and narcissism but frankly most of us have just a touch of that within us if being honest.
But he does have a lighter side and a comedic flare. And many of his good traits have been hidden since 2015 which is no accident.
Yes his foreign policy decisions are a mixed bag. He did ignore Bolton and the neocons when pressured him to attack Iran. He then assassinated Sulamani and canceled the Iran deal. He melted some ice in N, Korea and China. And after sending Javelins to Ukraine he has friendly meetings with Putin. He initiated the withdrawal from Afghanistan then keeps troops in NE Syria to steal there oil. ( which Biden never reversed.).
Which all comes back to the Churchill description .
So frankly despite his foreign policy BTeam picks it’ll be a wait and see fingers crossed. That is if we survive this last minute , ill conceived , Biden Administration suicide attempt.
Thank you John Kiriakou for positing the curious circumstances, not only of the very original acceptance of this obviously unhinged “immigrant” as a qualified citizen, but in so doing shining an authoritative light on the present shallow understanding of legal immigration as evidently perceived by the Trumpist cabal of totalitarian miscreants and feckless supplicants.
As Usual,
EA
A sworn white-supremacist as Trump’s terrorism czar? Shocking!
To some, not unexpected, therefore not shocking at all!
What is shocking, is the percent of the “sheeple” public who directly voted for this particular narcissistic confidence trickster.
You must be a Dem. supporter. Missing the sarcasm implied in R. Emmett’s comment. Feeling comfortable using terms like “sheeple” to vilify the majority who aren’t of the professional and administrative upper middle class ~20% the Ds actually represent. We the unimportant who apparently should silently defer to our betters.
Never mind the neolib Ivy Ds made the D party safe for corporate donors. Never mind we know the Ds did FOR the suffering, unemployed Rust Belt workers same as they did TO the Wall St. vultures who caused the ’08 crash–NOTHING! Which happened because the New Deal regs on banking were repealed by B. Clinton. Which resulted in layoffs, pensions lost, and homes foreclosed on, millions affected. But who cares, right?
H. Clinton said the quiet part out loud: “basket of deplorables.” We know she meant us all. Did you nod in agreement, certain of your own superiority? Never mind this is hardly a way to win us back to your smug party, the one that has ignored us for decades, then has the gall to argue “lesser of two evils.” Anything admitting to evil can’t be good. The bewilderment now expressed by D believers is amazing to me; it’s proof we peasants have been invisible to them for years. No, I’m for sure not saying Trump is good. What I am saying is the Ds must learn to listen to us.
BTW, lest you dismiss this as merely another angry idiot white guy, I’m BIPOC and LGBTQ with XX chromosomes along with being a blue collar worker for close to 30 years. It’s not either/or.
“Gorka says he provided Israel with advice on how to confront Hamas. What was that advice? ‘Kill every single one of them. God bless Israel. God bless Judeo-Christian civilization.’ That’s a strange position for a Nazi.”
Actually, that is exactly the sort of position one would expect a 21st century Nazi to take, isn’t it? What an irony of history that the most rabid Nazis operating today turn out to be the Israelis.
Not so strange to see an actual Nazi eager to slaughter Palestinians – the Likkud is today’s equivalent of the Nazi Party.
Statements by Walz and Gorka are included in Judge Napolitano’s interview today (Nov 26) with Col. MacGregor.
Starting about minute 14.
MacGregor responds, including on Trump’s silence over comments his hawks are making, which do not bode well at this time for a peace settlement.
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVshqSoUvXE
The video is ‘no longer available’.
Puzzling. When I click on Napolitano’s site I still can get this video.
Correction. It’s still available. I watched the original and just replayed it. It’s on Napolitano’s site and I really don’t see why it would be taken down. It’s not controversial. It’s just the plain truth.
these are dangerous times, run by dangerous men. and women.
So we’re going to have a Hungarian Nazi as deputy national security advisor?
Einstein, Arendt and others saw the writing on the wall from the beginning:
When Menachem Begin came to New York in late 1948, Einstein, Hannah Arendt, and other Jewish figures in the United States published a letter denouncing his visit and the organization he led calling it “a political party very close in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and fascist parties.”
hxxps://covertactionmagazine.com/2024/11/19/einstein-opposed-zionist-colonization-in-palestine-and-predicted-the-current-catastrophe/
Correct. As head of the Irgun he carried out terrorist acts against the British. Killing British civilians and soldiers who most likely were involved in liberating the camps his compatriots were saved from. Just another instance of the hypocrisy and mythology around the “ birth”;of Israel that is rarely touched upon around this subject matter. And he wasn’t the only one running a terrorist organization. You had the Lehi, Stern Gang and the Haganah.
The best way for the US gov’t to stop terrorism is for the gov’t to stop supporting terrorism.
It’s hard to decide which color team of the duopoly is more loathsome at this point. It’s like they’re working overtime to outdo each other’s reckless disregard for humanity.
Amen
¿Could it be that potus-elect is pulling its adversaries chains, without a serious/rational cell in its head?
Thanka for writing about this selection.
Keep writing!