Photo Shows Trump Backstage At Rally With Republicans In Racist Texts Scandal

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.”

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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.”

Giunta has also had his picture taken with Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Stefanik, who both condemned the statements in the group chat.

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The leaked conversation revealed several leaders of Young Republicans groups making profoundly disgusting comments. They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people.” They used slurs like “faggot,” “retarded” and “nigga.” They talked about raping and putting their political enemies in gas chambers.

And of course, Giunta casually praised Adolf Hitler.

Vance on Wednesday tried to downplay the content of these chats, bizarrely saying Young Republicans leaders were just “kids” who were telling “edgy, offensive jokes.”

But as the photo shows, Giunta and KayKaty were relevant enough to the Trump campaign to get direct access to Trump for a photo. Never mind that the Young Republican National Federation registers anyone aged 18 to 40, or that Giunta, who chaired the organization’s New York state chapter, was in his early 30s when he sent his “I love Hitler” text.

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Giunta resigned last month from New York State Young Republicans amid allegations of “serious potential financial misconduct” within the group. Kaykaty remains a national committee member for New York State Young Republicans.

Asked about the Hitler-loving group chat Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) volunteered that he, too, had been photographed with the participants.

“I don’t know who any of these people are, I never heard of them. Somebody posted a photo of me standing with them,” Johnson said.

He guessed his photo with Young Republicans leaders was taken at Trump’s inauguration.

“People just come up and ask for selfies, a thousand of them,” Johnson said. “But whoever these young people are, and whatever they’re saying, if it’s true, we obviously condemn that, and the organizations involved are dealing with that.”

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