Washington, DC — President Trump has nominated a hyper-partisan 30-year-old blogger with less than one year of legal practice, Paul Ingrassia, to serve as the U.S. Special Counsel. In this role, Ingrassia will head the office responsible for protecting whistleblowers and the federal merit system. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a coalition of government ethics and whistleblower protection groups have issued a letter charging that this nominee is not only utterly unqualified to serve as Special Counsel, but his statements demonstrate he is unfit for this position.

Paul Ingrassia graduated from law school in 2022. In the ensuing months before joining the Trump administration, his work revolved around defending the January 6^th U.S. Capitol rioters.

In his blogs and social media posts, he has expressed views that are disturbingly extreme and completely antithetical to the role of the Special Counsel, including –

• Contempt for Civil Servants. The Special Counsel is supposed to protect civil servants from unlawful discrimination. Yet, Ingrassia characterizes career federal employees as “parasites” and “bugmen” who “leech off the diminishing lifeblood of the dying Republic” with “no real skill sets to offer”;
• Trump Sycophant. The Special Counsel is supposed to enforce the Hatch Act which outlaws electioneering in federal workplaces. Yet, Ingrassia worships his patron, writing “Our age’s Apollo is personified by none other than Donald J. Trump” and “Trump represents the kind of great man found throughout history.” He is unlikely to defend any whistleblower who reveals wrongdoing by other Trump appointees; and
• Racist and Anti-Semitic. Ingrassia calls the October 6^th attacks by Hamas a “psyop” suggesting it was staged, expresses an affinity for the Confederate flag, and wrote, “exceptional white men are not only the builders of Western civilization but are the ones most capable of appreciating the fruits of our heritage.”

“President Trump has made some pretty bad nominations, but this would have to be the worst,” stated PEER General Counsel Joanna Citron Day, an attorney who has served at the U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior, as well as EPA. “Paul Ingrassia is not qualified to be hired for an entry-level position at the Office of Special Counsel let alone to head the entire office.”

Today, a coalition of whistleblower groups released a joint letter calling Ingrassia “an unserious nominee.” The Special Counsel position became open after President Trump fired the incumbent mid-way through his five-year term without cause, although the law stipulates that removal only be for cause.

“The Office of Special Counsel is supposed to defend conscientious civil servants, not persecute them,” Day added. “This nomination underscores President Trump’s utter contempt for public servants.”

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See some of Ingrassia’s outrageous musings

Look at Trump’s announcement calling Ingrassia a “Constitutional Scholar”

Read joint opposition letter from whistleblower groups

Examine bleak whistleblower prospects under Trump