Politico published excerpts from 2,900 pages of a 12-member Telegram group called “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” earlier this week, revealing offensive jokes on race, sexual assault, and the Holocaust:
William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair, used the words “n–ga” and “n–guh,” variations of a racial slur, more than a dozen times in the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”
Terms like “f*ggot,” “retarded,” and “n*gga” appeared more than 251 times thorough the pages reviewed by Politico, the outlet stated.
An elected official, Vermont State Sen. Samuel Douglass, allegedly joked that a woman was mistaken for being Indian because she “didn’t bathe often,” and his wife, Vermont Young Republican national committee member Brianna Douglass, allegedly joked about not “expecting the Jew to be honest.”
The leaked chats have received condemnation from many Republicans, with the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF), which boasts some 15,000 members, calling on the texters to resign. Several members of the chat have already lost their jobs, Politico reported in a follow-up:
Peter Giunta lost his post as state Assemblymember Mike Reilly’s chief of staff, Playbook reported.
Joe Maligno was out as an employee of the New York State Unified Court System
Vermont’s Republican governor and GOP lawmakers called on state Sen. Sam Douglass to resign.
The Kansas Republican Party announced that the Kansas Young Republicans, where William Hendrix was a leader, were inactive.
That’s on top of what happened before the story published: Hendrix lost his job with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, and Bobby Walker’s offer to join NY-19 congressional candidate Peter Oberacker’s campaign was effectively revoked.
Vance broke from fellow Republicans on denouncing the members of the group chat, juxtaposing the off-color jokes to the death wishes that Jay Jones made towards a Republican lawmaker and his children:
The vice president doubled down while guest appearing on the late Charlie Kirk’s podcast, saying, “A person who is very politically powerful, who is about to become one of the most powerful law enforcement officers in the country, that person seriously wishing for political violence and political assassination is 1,000 times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids say in a group chat, however offensive it might be. That’s just the reality.”
Drama is also circling around who allegedly leaked the “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” chat to the press, with multiple people pointing to former New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) president and current Trump administration official Gavin Wax.
NYYRC is “a separate, city-based group that is at odds with the state organization, the New York State Young Republicans,” Politico noted.
“These logs were sourced by way of extortion and provided to POLITICO by the very same people conspiring against me,” Giunta said in a statement. “What’s most disheartening is that, despite my unwavering support of President Trump since 2016, rouge [sic] members of his administration — including Gavin Wax — have participated in this conspiracy to ruin me publicly simply because I challenged them privately.”
The Daily Mail reported that the White House confronted Wax for leaking the messages a week before the story was published, after an affidavit from another administration official was delivered by Republican Party leaders to the White House Office of Political Affairs on October 7.
Insiders alleged to the outlet that Wax, who works for Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Darren Beattie, orchestrated the leak to take down fellow Republicans over internal spats.
The author of the affidavit, Michael Bartels, claimed that Wax blackmailed him and threatened legal action until he handed over the chat logs to his associate, Nathan Berger. The document, obtained by Nerve News, states that Wax had pressured Bartels for the logs since August.
Bartels wrote that when he resisted Wax’s demands, he “threatened my professional standing, and raised the possibility of potential legal action related to an alleged breach of a non-disclosure agreement.”
“My position within the New York Young Republican Club was directly threatened,” Bartels wrote.
Before his LinkedIn profile was taken down this week, it stated that Bartels is a senior adviser in the office of general counsel within the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Three days after receiving Bartel’s affidavit, the White House reportedly received a screenshot of a text conversation between Politico reporter Jason Beeferman and Wax, “allegedly showing that he provided names, phone numbers, and background on individuals featured in the group chat.”
“White House officials confronted Wax about whether he leaked the information to Politico and he denied the allegation, according to a source familiar with the matter,” the Daily Mail reported.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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