A Republican political candidate made a Hitler reference when criticizing law enforcement’s COVID-19 restrictions in Staten Island, New York, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
Political consultant and candidate for borough president Leticia Remauro said “Heil Hitler” while demanding that the sheriff’s department lessen the COVID-19 restrictions in place at a protest on Dec. 2, the Daily News reported.
“I apologize profusely that the word I used in trying to create an analogy were offensive,” Remauro said, the Daily News reported.
Tipster sends this video of candidate for Staten Island Borough President @LeticiaRemauro who appears to say “Heil Hitler” in this video. https://t.co/IGeCJRQr22
— Zack Fink (@ZackFinkNews) January 12, 2021
Remauro was attending a protest against the closing of Mac’s Public House, a bar in Staten Island, while wearing an American flag mask, according to the Daily News. She said the New York City Sheriff’s Department officers were being used by Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio close small businesses.
“We’re here to stand up for our right — the right to pay taxes so we can pay the salaries of these good men and women,” Remauro said in a video, the Daily News reported.
“Sometimes you gotta say ‘Heil Hitler’ — not a good idea to send me here!” Remauro added, according to the Daily News. Remauro said she “actually meant to say ‘mein Führer, it’s not a good idea to send me here,” to refer to Cuomo and de Blasio as “fascist.”
“I absolutely regret the choice of words,” Remauro said, the Daily News reported. “My very unfortunate analogy was … overdramatic and wrong.”
Remauro said she would not apologize for supporting small businesses, according to the Daily News. (RELATED: Bar Owners Declare It An ‘Autonomous Zone’ After Being Fined, Stripped Of Their Liquor License For COVID-19 Violations)
“But when you think about in Nazi Germany, in Cuba, with Mussolini, it starts the same way. They come for your business, your religion, your property and then for you,” Remauro said.
Remauro said she studied Judiasm and that she has a half-Jewish grandson, so she understands the Holocaust, according to the Daily News. She also said that she has “worked with” the Jewish community.
Remauro said she was the campaign manager for Staten Island Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, according to the Daily News.
Remauro did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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