A Hungarian nationalist group with links to Nazi Germany is “proud” to see one of its affiliates — Sebastian Gorka — has made it all the way to the White House.
Members of the Vitez Order have heaped praise on Gorka, one of President Trump’s top counterterrorism advisers, for bringing unprecedented attention to the group — even as he denies ties to them and their anti-Semitic history.
“When he appeared on U.S. television … with the medal of the Vitez Order … it made me really proud,” Vitezi Rend spokesman Andras Horvath told an NBC News reporter in Budapest.
Horvath said he could not confirm that Gorka was a sworn-in member of the group — something Gorka himself denies.
But Horvath fondly remembered Gorka’s father, Paul Gorka, who was “more than an average” member and reached the order’s most advanced levels. He said it was possible the son followed in his footsteps.
Others locals, though, swore that Gorka was clear about his allegiance.
“Everybody knew that he was member of the Order of Vitez,” Csaba Gáspár, who ran against Gorka in the 2006 race to be mayor of the town of Piliscsaba, told NBC.
Both men lost the race.
Gorka has been scrambling to explain his affinity for the Vitez Order since the Jewish Daily Forward reported in March that he is a formal member who took the group’s lifelong oath of loyalty.
Vitez Order dates to World War II, and some historians have alleged that its members aided in the oppression, deportation and killing of Hungarian Jews.
The U.S. State Department included it on the list of groups that were “under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany,” and banned known members from immigrating to America.
The group continues today with about 5,000 members, none of whom are Jewish.
Gorka has made numerous public appearances wearing the group’s honorary medal, and also uses “V.” as his middle initial, a tradition among group members.
But he has argued that both habits are a way to honor his father, who he says fought against totalitarianism as a Vitez Order member. Gorka has repeatedly denied being a member or agreeing with the extremist views connected to the organization.
Jewish groups have called for Gorka to either resign or at least be investigated for his background, though neither has happened.
He remains of the closest counterterrorism advisers to Trump, and is reportedly pushing to become the next presidential envoy to Libya — with some unorthodox ideas for the job.
The Guardian reported on Monday that, during a meeting with a senior European diplomat, Gorka argued for partitioning Libya into three areas — and drew his idea on a napkin to illustrate it. The diplomat told Gorka that would the “worst solution” for the country.
