White House interns appear to have been duped into writing a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris urging the officials to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, according to Politico.
More than 40 White House interns across several executive branch offices wrote a letter Dec. 6, claiming they will “never forget” how the “pleas of the American people” have been ignored by the administration. The legitimacy of the letter is now being called into question. Politico reports that a screenshot shows an anonymous individual entered a group chat made up of all the White House interns, alerted the members of the letter and then immediately left the chat. (RELATED: Biden Tells Donors Israel Must Change Its Government To Continue Receiving Global Support)
“Hi all, as the genocide of Palestinians continues, there is a public letter for White House interns to sign anonymously for those who stand with Palestine,” Thara Nagarajan, the individual who entered the group chat wrote, while sending a link to the letter, according to Politico.
Nagarajan added the interns had until 6 p.m. the following day to “sign” the letter, according to Politico. The individual reportedly added the interns could sign the letter by writing what offices they were in and would be kept anonymous.
While it’s unclear if Nagarajan organized the letter, the identity of the individual has not been discovered, Politico reported. The group chat with the White House interns is not facilitated by the administration but is an informal way for the roughly 150 interns to communicate throughout their internship, according to Politico.
“I don’t know who that is or how that ended up in the group chat,” an intern who signed the letter told Politico. “They are not part of our group and they are not even a White House intern to begin with.”
The same intern told Politico that Nagarajan did not write the letter and White House interns organized it.
Family members of Americans who were taken hostage by Hamas during the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, including (R-L) Ronen Neutra, Ruby Chen, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Liz Naftali, Adi Alexander, Orna Neutra, and Yael Alexander talk to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House on December 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The White House interns’ letter was the latest example of those within Biden’s administration and party who have been pushing back on the president’s pro-Israel stance. A coalition of State Department staffers pushed the Biden administration to be public about its purported internal criticism of how the Israeli government treats Palestinian civilians. Some of the president’s allies are reportedly worried Biden has tied himself too close to Israel, warning such a position could cost Biden votes of young Democrats in the 2024 election.
“We’re all very scared at the moment,” the intern said, adding the others felt the administration was “on a witch hunt to find us.” The administration is not working to identify which interns signed the letter, a White House official told Politico.