The Atlantic

The Campaign to Rehabilitate Sebastian Gorka

The White House aide, under fire for alleged links to a right-wing Hungarian group, was a hit at the <em>Jerusalem Post</em> conference—and he’s had outside help.
Source: Susan Walsh / AP

NEW YORK—Sebastian Gorka began his appearance at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference by thanking his supporters.

“I’d like to thank everybody who has stood by me and this administration for the last 15 weeks,” Gorka said. “Specifically, and I apologize in advance if I’ve forgotten you, but the two Davids, Ira, Bruce, Jeff, Mort, Joel, Noah, you know who you are, okay, especially thank you to Rabbi Billet, who wrote this Friday an amazing piece.”

Gorka’s appearance on Sunday, an onstage Q&A with the ’s editor Yaakov Katz, might seem surprising given everything that has transpired since he joined the White House. Gorka’s image in the Jewish community has become, to say the least, raised questions about his connections to the right-wing Hungarian group Vitezi Rend, which had historical ties to Nazism. also that Gorka had been denied a Hungarian security clearance. A former writer and author of a book called , Gorka had long lingered around the fringes of the Washington national-security scene before joining the Trump administration, with the title of deputy assistant to the president. Gorka’s actual role at the White House has never been fully clear, beyond appearing on television and working for the Strategic Initiatives Group, the whose purpose and nature has itself proved elusive.

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