Democrats Urge Republicans to Get Serious About Stopping Antisemitism Rather Than Exploiting It for Political Gain

Washington, D.C. (June 25, 2025)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, led subcommittee Democrats in calling for real action to address the rising crisis of antisemitism in America, as President Donald Trump defunds the agencies charged with fighting hate crimes and domestic extremism, harbors extremists in his Administration, and weaponizes antisemitism for political gain. 

The hearing included testimony from: Matt Nosanchuk, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations and Outreach, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education; Kenneth L. Marcus, Founder and Chairman, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Dan Schneider, Vice President, Free Speech, Media Research Center; and Debra Cooper, Chief of Digital Activism, End Jew Hatred and Jewish Advocacy Research and Writer Group. 

The Trump Administration and the Republican Majority pay mere lip service to fighting antisemitism while weakening our ability to fight it. 

• Rep. Hank Johnson said: “The Trump Administration and MAGA Republicans have a lot of empty talk about fighting antisemitism. They talk a big game while they strip funding from the agencies that fight domestic terrorism, pause vital security grants to synagogues and religious schools and fill Trump’s administration with right-wing extremists who cozy up to Nazi sympathizers. The Trump Administration and MAGA Republicans used these empty words because their focus on antisemitism is not actually about the safety of Jews. Instead, they are cynically weaponizing antisemitism to justify anti-immigrant and anti-First Amendment actions that make Jews less safe.”
   
• Rep. Dan Goldman said: “The reason why you hear frustration on the Democratic side of the aisle here is because we hear so much lip service from our Republican colleagues about antisemitism […] but then, on the other hand, we see nonprofit security grants funded at $305 million, which is the same as FY2023 before October 7th, that protects Jewish synagogues. We’re seeing a rise in violent hate crimes now, where Jewish institutions need much more protection. We’re not getting it. We see antisemitism being used as a pretext to go after immigration policy or to go after universities. That has nothing to do with antisemitism.”
   
• Ranking Member Raskin said: “When Trump claims that he is actively combating antisemitism, we know there is a lot more to the picture than meets the eye. He has thoroughly destroyed the infrastructure within our government to detect, prevent, and prosecute domestic extremism, hate crimes, and antisemitic attacks. […] The Trump Administration froze or canceled community safety, violence intervention and terrorism prevention programs across the country. It is ending a terrorism prevention program focused on ‘lone-wolf” attacks—attacks like the ones we just suffered in Boulder and outside of the Capital Jewish Museum here in D.C.—because the program ‘does not align with [the Administration’s] priorities.’” 

Donald Trump has filled his Administration with right-wing extremists and their apologists. 

• Ranking Member Crockett said: “Everyone, including Congress and the President, needs to do all that we can to reject hate and violence in all forms. But to do that, my colleagues need to be honest about what's allowed this behavior to flourish. That means confronting the fact that Donald Trump has played a significant role in emboldening this behavior by repeatedly legitimizing extremists who've continued to spread and promote antisemitism and religious hate.”
   
• Ranking Member Raskin said: “Nearly two-thirds of all Jewish voters disapprove of ‘the job Donald Trump is doing to fight antisemitism.’ This is not surprising for several reasons, the first being that President Trump has populated his own administration with antisemites and fans of neo-Nazis. President Trump has nominated people like Ed Martin and Paul Ingrassia to top level positions despite their documented support for, and close relationships with, neo-Nazis and antisemites. Ed Martin, Trump’s once-nominee for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has enthusiastically embraced Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a neo-Nazi who has painted a Hitler mustache on himself and repeatedly told coworkers ‘Hitler should have finished the job’ against the Jews.” 

The weaponization of antisemitism to further political aims makes everyone less safe. 

• Rep. Jared Moskowitz said: “This is a problem in both of our houses, and pretending it is not is one of the reasons why we’re not cleaning it up […] This is a virus that is spreading.”
   
• Rep. Goldman said: “What I hope we can do is recognize that to address the issue on the substance, we have to take the politics out of it […] We need people on both sides to be calling out antisemitism on both sides in order for us to address this.”