A Trump nominee for a top State Department position deleted thousands upon thousands of inflammatory social media posts, which included hatred for Democrats, support of racist conspiracy theories and one that called for the “death penalty” for a political opponent.
Jeremy Carl, who is under consideration by the Senate for assistant secretary of state for international organizations, was the subject of a CNN KFile investigation. That investigation found that Carl had attempted to delete thousands of posts prior to his nomination in June by President Donald Trump. Carl was previously deputy assistant secretary of the interior during Trump’s first term.
However, the CNN team found that thousands of Carl’s posts are still accessible through the Wayback Machine, a digital archive of the Internet, as well as stray posts that still exist on social media platforms.
In a post from May 2023, Carl said that convicted rioters from the Jan. 6 insurrection were treated worse than Black Americans during the Jim Crow era. A week later, Carl said, “If the U.S. were a serious nation,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten would be “tried for crimes against America’s children and would get the death penalty.”
Carl had previously referred to the rioters as “political prisoners” and blamed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for organizing a “military coup.”
“The real coup was against Trump not by Trump,” Carl wrote in a post.
Carl repeatedly called the Democratic Party “the treason party,” along with referring to Democrats as “evil.”
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“There is no ‘peaceful coexistence’ we are going to have when our opposition is led by people like this. We either win or die,” Carl wrote in 2021.
Carl’s comments were not limited to politics. In July 2021, Carl said the creation of Juneteenth was “race hustling and white-shaming.” He specifically referred to white Americans celebrating the holiday as “self-hating white people.”
“If you’re a white person celebrating Juneteenth, you’ve already surrendered,” Carl wrote.
According to the investigation, Carl posted repeatedly regarding the racists conspiracy theory called “Great Replacement.” The conspiracy theory says an international plot to “replace” white people by bringing nonwhite immigrants to Western countries.
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“Imagine thinking the Great replacement is a conspiracy theory,” Carl wrote in Sept. 2021.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly defended Carl in a statement to CNN.
“Jeremy Carl did great work during President Trump’s first administration, and he is highly qualified to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations. The administration stands by our nominees.”
If confirmed, Carl would manage more than 100 diplomats around the world.