Twenty-five Jewish Democratic House members have joined a growing coalition of public figures who are urging President Donald Trump to fire White House senior adviser Stephen Miller over emails leaked last month that show he pushed white nationalist talking points ahead of the 2016 election.
In an open letter released Friday, the lawmakers called on Trump to dismiss Miller from his administration because “his documented support for white nationalist and virulently anti-immigrant tropes is wholly unacceptable and disqualifying for a government employee.”
“With America experiencing historic levels of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism, and white supremacy, there should be no place in our government and on any President’s staff for people propagating such views,” read the letter.
The lawmakers also rejected the Trump White House’s allegation that those criticizing Miller over the emails, surfaced by the Southern Poverty Law Center, were simply “trying to deny his Jewish identity which is a pernicious form of anti-Semitism.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” the lawmakers said. “Hateful ideology is not just unacceptable, it is un-American, irrespective of the faith, race, or nationality of the individual promoting it.”
“Weaponizing anti-Semitism is incredibly dangerous — by muddying the waters, we are no longer able to see and fight against the real anti-Semites in our midst,” they added. “We will not now, or ever, accept intolerance or hate anywhere within our government, and especially not in the White House.”
The 25 lawmakers, led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), join dozens of other Democrats, multiple Jewish groups and a raft of major civil rights organizations to demand Miller’s dismissal or resignation after the release of the messages he sent to editors of the far-right website Breitbart during his time as an aide to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.Ala.).