Senate Republican denounces Young Republicans' chat, breaking with Vance

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) on Wednesday denounced the Young Republicans’ group chat in which leaders made racist and antisemitic jokes, breaking with Vice President Vance, who has sought to downplay the remarks.

In an interview on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt,” Mullin noted the Young Republican National Federation — the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old — condemned the chat and called for the immediate resignations of all those involved.

“All Republicans, including myself, 100 percent denounced that,” the Oklahoma senator said, adding, “It’s a serious situation. There's no room in the Republican Party for that at all.”

“This is despicable and disgusting, and there's zero — and everybody's been perfectly clear — there's zero room for this kind of behavior in politics as a whole, regardless of Republican or Democrat, but we hold our own accountable inside the Republican Party. We won’t allow that to happen,” he added.

Politico published a bombshell report this week, exposing thousands of text messages from a Young Republican group chat in which members played on racial stereotypes, used gay slurs and joked about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

One of the most prominent members of the chat — Peter Giunta, who is reportedly 31 years old — said, “I love Hitler,” in an exchange about appealing to delegates as the “most right wing person.”

Hunt asked Mullin if he agrees with Vance, who suggested the chat participants were just “kids” making “jokes” and that they shouldn’t be canceled for it.

Vance also said, in an interview on “The Charlie Kirk Show” on Wednesday, that he will make sure to advise his children to be careful of what they say publicly because they should assume “some scumbag is going to leak it in an effort to try to cause you harm or cause your family harm.”

“Well, I didn't hear… the Vice President's remarks, but I would never let my kids joke like that. That's zero. There's a solid no,” Mullin said.

Mullin recalled his grandfather describing the horrors of World War II and said he does not tolerate jokes about the Holocaust.

“My grandfather fought in World War II. He went over on Omaha Beach. He saw the despicable things that the Nazis did to not just the Jewish people, but to other countries and other races along the way. He went into a concentration camp,” Mullin said.

“And so it's not, it's not room to joke for me. It's a hard stop, that you're not associated with me, whatsoever, if you think that's funny.”