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7 months ago
In court papers, prosecutors described Timothy Hale-Cusanelli as a "Nazi sympathizer" who went to work at a Naval Weapons Station with a "Hitler mustache." (Department of Justice)
This story originally appeared on NPR.
Twice this past summer, Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J. has featured speeches from a rioter convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, who has a well-documented history of extreme antisemitic and racist rants.
One of those events — a fundraiser for a controversial nonprofit group that supports Capitol riot defendants — was personally endorsed by Trump himself in a video message that was played for the room.
“All of the people there, you’re amazing patriots,” Trump said in the video. “Have a great time at Bedminster.”
As part of his criminal case over Jan. 6, federal prosecutors described the rioter, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, as a “white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer,” who told his coworkers at a naval weapons station that “Hitler should have finished the job” and “babies born with any deformities or disabilities should be shot in the forehead.”
Court filings featured multiple pictures of Hale-Cusanelli at work with a “Hitler mustache.” A lengthy online video he posted in 2020 attacked what he called a “Hasidic Jewish invasion” of New Jersey and compared orthodox Jews to a “plague of locusts.”
According to reporting in the Asbury Park Press and Gothamist, Hale-Cusanelli antagonized a Jewish man in Ocean County, N.J. online prior to Jan. 6. Both news organizations reported that Hale-Cusanelli published the man’s address on social media and indicated that he would go to his house on the Sabbath, though no charges were filed.
In response to NPR’s reporting, Jewish organizations raised concerns about Hale-Cusanelli’s appearances at Trump’s golf club.
“As an organization representing the Jewish community, we believe that those who promote antisemitism — or prejudice or racism or bigotry in any form — should not be given a platform and encouraged to share their views,” said Keith Krivitzky, the managing director of the Jewish Federation of Ocean County. “We also believe that it is vital that those in positions of leadership stand up to hate and extremist views.”
“We hope that the Trump campaign will disavow this individual and his antisemitic views if in fact he was given a platform at a Jan. 6 defendants fundraising event,” said a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League.
“Former President Trump hasn’t simply ignored or given a pass to these antisemitic extremists,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, “In many ways, he’s embraced them and helped mainstream their ideas in our political rhetoric.”
In response to NPR, the Trump campaign appeared to distance itself from Hale-Cusanelli.
A Trump campaign official told NPR that the former president is “not even aware of this individual.”
NPR pointed out that Trump has repeatedly endorsed the nonprofit Patriot Freedom Project, a group founded in direct response to Hale-Cusanelli’s arrest. The group’s founder, Cynthia Hughes, calls herself an “adoptive aunt” to Hale-Cusanelli and spoke about his case at a Trump campaign rally. In 2023, Trump spoke at another Patriot Freedom Project event at Bedminster alongside Hughes.
The Trump campaign official clarified that Trump has “not been made aware of the comments that [Hale-Cusanelli’s] made.”
Regarding Hale-Cusanelli’s speeches at the former president’s Bedminster property, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump did not attend these events, and, of course, he absolutely condemns bigotry and hatred of any kind.”
Hale-Cusanelli did not respond to NPR’s requests for comment sent through Hughes and his attorney. In the past, Hale-Cusanelli has referred to the Anti-Defamation league as “parasitic opportunists and Jewish supremacists.”
On Jan. 6, Hale-Cusanelli stormed the U.S. Capitol, but was not accused of physical violence against police. Video evidence presented at his criminal trial showed him moving barriers protecting the building, waving in fellow rioters, interfering with an attempted police arrest and screaming at officers, “the revolution will be televised, c***.”
Prosecutors presented text messages he sent about the 2020 election, where he used an antisemitic slur and accused Democrats of “n***** rigging”.
The jury found him guilty of four misdemeanors, as well as one felony, obstruction of an official proceeding. The Supreme Court has since limited the use of the felony obstruction charge in Jan. 6-related cases, and Hale-Cusanelli is appealing his conviction. If he wins his appeal, he could regain his gun rights.
At Hale-Cusanelli’s sentencing hearing, Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, cited his history of antisemitic remarks.
“Statements and actions like yours make [Jewish people] less safe and less confident they can participate as equal members of our society,” McFadden said.
Hale-Cusanelli, a former U.S. Army reservist, apologized at the hearing to members of Congress and the Capitol Police.
“My behavior that day was unacceptable,” he told Judge McFadden. “I disgraced my uniform and I disgraced the country.”
Judge McFadden sentenced Hale-Cusanelli to four years in prison. Hale-Cusanelli was able to secure release from custody in Dec. 2023, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Since then, he has called himself a political prisoner and embraced conspiracy theories that the Jan. 6 attack was a “setup” by government provocateurs. He also claimed that his extreme rants amounted to internet trolling to provoke a reaction, and said that he has Puerto Rican and Jewish ancestry, telling one interviewer “I don’t hate Jews.” He has denied that he’s a Nazi sympathizer or white supremacist.
Trump has been linked to antisemitic extremists before.
In 2022, the former president had dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier, who used a bullhorn to urge Trump supporters on Jan. 6 to “break down the barriers and disregard the police.” (Fuentes did not personally breach the building and has not faced criminal charges.) Trump told the extremist group the Proud Boys, whose founder has a history of antisemitic remarks, to “stand back and stand by” at a 2020 presidential debate. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump initially declined to disavow an endorsement from David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
“This is not an isolated situation,” said Spitalnick. “This is who, in many ways, he has chosen to surround himself by.”
Trump has made support for the Jan. 6 defendants a central plank of his 2024 presidential campaign. His first official campaign rally opened with a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by Jan. 6 defendants in jail. He has referred to the defendants as “patriots” and “hostages,” and promised to issue pardons to convicted rioters, including those who assaulted police officers. Approximately 140 officers were injured in the attack on the Capitol.
The two events at Trump’s Bedminster property featuring Hale-Cusanelli both took place over the summer.
In June, Hale-Cusanelli spoke at a Patriot Freedom Project fundraiser.
In August, Hale-Cusanelli received an award for promoting “God, family and country.” Conservative activist Ed Martin, a leader of the 2024 Republican National Convention’s platform committee, praised Hale-Cusanelli as an “extraordinary man” and an “extraordinary leader.” (Among the other award recipients were former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn and several other figures closely tied to the former president.)
In an email to NPR, Martin did not address Hale-Cusanelli’s past antisemitic remarks.
“NPR, the government-funded propaganda outlet that has lied at every turn about what happened on J6 is at it again,” he wrote.
As he received his award from Martin at Bedminster, Hale-Cusanelli attacked the Biden administration.
“We’ll never make America great again, unless we acknowledge the true depth and scope of this tyrannical and despotic regime,” he said, “[and] the extent to which they will go to destroy this country and everything that we hold dear.”
The following day, Trump held an event at Bedminster dedicated to fighting antisemitism, where he said, “we believe that this vicious outbreak of militant antisemitism – it’s very militant – must be given no quarter, no safe harbor, no place in a civilized society.”
Hale-Cusanelli has hailed Trump as a “God Emperor,” posted photos from near the front of a Trump rally and showed off a MAGA hat that was apparently signed by the former president.
After his second appearance at Trump’s club, he posted on social media, “Great time at Trump Bedminster YET AGAIN!”
