Mandel slams civil rights group, stands with conspiracy theorists

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who often talks on the campaign trail about his Holocaust survivor grandparents, took to Twitter this week to slam the Anti-Defamation League as a “partisan witch hunt group,” and backed two controversial political operatives, including one tied to an unproven story last year that claimed the Hillary Clinton campaign was linked to a child sex trafficking ring run out of a Washington, D.C., pizza joint.

In his tweet Mandel, who is running for the U.S. Senate in a rematch against Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said he stands with Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec and re-tweeted a statement by Cernovich stating that the ADL had created a hit list of political opponents.

Cernovich, a blogger, radio host and conspiracy theorist, is among 36 people listed by the ADL’s Center on Extremism as key figures in the alt right and alt lite movements. He has made a number of controversial statements, including that “date rape” doesn’t exist.

Posobiec is an Internet personality and conspiracy theorist who pushed the Hillary Clinton child sex trafficking story last year.

The ADL is a Jewish civil rights group founded in 1913.

“In the past year the alt right has gone from relative obscurity to one of the most visible extremist movements in the U.S., bringing messages of white supremacy and anti-Semitism into the public sphere,” the ADL said.

The group defines the alt lite as those who reject white supremacy but embrace misogyny, anti-Muslim bigotry and xenophobia.

Mandel’s office defended the candidate’s tweet.

“As the grandson of Holocaust survivors and as a Marine who defended our freedom, Treasurer Mandel believes the ADL is dead wrong for creating hit lists on American citizens,” campaign spokeswoman Erica Nurnberg said in a written statement. “Of all organizations, the ADL should know that making target lists of people based on their political beliefs is a dangerous practice and slippery slope.”

In recent months Mandel has lashed out against sanctuary cities, media elites, a “rigged system” and radical Islam. In May, he released a campaign video of him standing somewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border, expressing support for President Trump’s wall.

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