Report: Far-Right Blogger Who Disputed Holocaust Death Number Attended GOP Fundraiser

Charles C. Johnson, a far-right blogger who once wrote that he didn’t think 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust, attended a July fundraiser for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), according to a report from the leftist news site Mother Jones.

The report states that Johnson was on a yacht with Gaetz and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). It is not clear who invited him, as Rohrabacher’s campaign financer told Mother Jones he didn’t remember who invited him; Gaetz’s campaign refused to comment to both Mother Jones and the Pensacola News Journal about the event.

In a 2017 Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, Johnson said in response to a question about the Holocaust, “I do not and never have believed the 6 million figure. I think the Red Cross numbers of 250,000 dead in the campus from typhus are more realistic.” He also wrote that he didn’t think Auschwitz and the gas chambers were real but he is a supporter of Israel.

Johnson later wrote on his GotNews blog that those comments were part of “a project studying the various tech companies and their commitments to free speech against fake hate speech” and denied being a Holocaust denier.

This isn’t Johnson’s only connection to Gaetz and Rohrabacher; in January, Gaetz invited Johnson to attend Trump’s State of the Union address. Rohrabacher reportedly brought Johnson to a meeting with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to talk about Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.

A spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said in a statement to Mother Jones they were “extremely troubled” that Johnson reportedly attended Gaetz’s fundraiser.

“ADL previously called on Gaetz to discontinue his associations with Johnson and to publicly repudiate his views after it was revealed Johnson was Gaetz’ guest at President Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address,” the spokesperson said. “We renew those calls in light of this new report, as it is completely inappropriate for a sitting U.S. member of Congress to continue to knowingly associate with an anti-Semite and bigot like Charles Johnson.”

Jennifer Zimmerman, Gaetz’s opponent in the upcoming November election, said in a statement to the Pensacola News Journal, “I find it inconceivable that Gaetz feels entitled to skip candidate forums in his district in favor of fraternizing with Holocaust deniers. The people of Northwest Florida deserve better.”