WASHINGTON — A photo from 2024 shows President Donald Trump backstage at a campaign rally with two members of the Young Republican National Federation who participated in the deeply disturbing, racist group chat leaked to Politico earlier this week.
The photo, obtained by HuffPost, shows Trump giving a thumbs-up with Peter Giunta, a regular participant in the group chat who said at one point, “I love Hitler,” and Anne KayKaty, who chimed in on the group chat that she wanted “to watch people burn.”
The photo provides additional evidence to rebut attempts by Republican leaders, including Vice President JD Vance and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), to portray the chat participants as mere kids whose racist and antisemitic views had little influence on the party. While local party officials, donors and others often get their photos taken with political candidates before rallies, getting backstage typically requires that they have at least some influence.
Giunta originally shared the photo on his Facebook page, but it’s no longer publicly available.
In a statement to HuffPost, a White House official suggested there was nothing untoward about the president’s photo: “All presidents, including President Trump, take tens of thousands of pictures over the course of their campaign.”
