Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the Senate on Monday to reject the nomination of Jeremy Carl, U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for assistant secretary of state for international organizations, citing Carl’s “long history of racist, white supremacist and antisemitic views.”
Speaking on the Senate floor ahead of Carl’s scheduled testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Schumer pointed to remarks Carl has allegedly made over several years on podcasts and social media.
Carl, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute who served as a deputy assistant secretary of the Interior during Trump’s first administration, has allegedly referred to Juneteenth as a “race hustling and white shaming holiday,” adding that “if you’re a white person celebrating Juneteenth, you’ve already surrendered,” according to Schumer.
Schumer also stated that Carl said, “Jews often love to play the victim” and stated on a podcast that “throughout history, Jews chose some professions that made them more oppressive and they can’t be surprised that the average descendants of Cossack peasants would be resentful towards them.”
He further alleged that Carl dismissed the Holocaust by saying that “everyone has traumas in their past.”
Carl rejected Schumer’s accusations, accusing the senator of selectively applying charges of racism and antisemitism for political purposes.
“You appear to only disavow racism, antisemitism and racial supremacy if you think you can use those words as a cudgel to beat Republicans,” he stated.
Carl also criticized Schumer for what he described as a failure to condemn inflammatory rhetoric shared by prominent Democrats, including Gene Wu, a Texas state representative, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
He accused Schumer of avoiding criticism of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, despite Schumer penning a book called Antisemitism in America, out of fear of “a Senate primary challenge from the left in 2028.”
“Seems like you should get your house in order before criticizing others,” Carl stated.
Eugene Kontorovich, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, challenged Schumer’s characterization of Carl.
“Antisemitism is an odd label for an openly pro-Israel nominee to the IO desk who supports sanctions on the ICC, which has sought to criminalize Israel’s self-defense,” Kontorovich wrote.
In September, CNN’s “KFile” reported that Carl deleted thousands of posts from his social media following his nomination.
