The Young Republican Telegram chat leak scandal has rocked the Republican Party after Politico exposed nearly 2,900 pages of racist, antisemitic, and violent messages exchanged by prominent GOP youth leaders across multiple states. The leaked messages from the private Telegram group called “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” revealed shocking content including Holocaust jokes, racial slurs, and discussions about sexual assault, triggering immediate resignations and widespread condemnation.
Multiple GOP Leaders Lose Jobs Over Chat Revelations
The Peter Giunta controversy intensified when the former chief of staff to New York Assemblymember Mike Reilly was fired after his messages included jokes about gas chambers. Giunta wrote, “Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber,” prompting another member, Joe Maligno, to respond, “Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic.” Maligno, who worked for the New York State Unified Court System, was also terminated following the GOP racist messages revelations.
William Hendrix Kansas Republicans faced similar consequences as he lost his position in Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office after using the n-word more than a dozen times in the chat. The Politico investigation report showed participants from New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont engaged in months of deeply offensive exchanges spanning from January to August 2025.
Young Republican Leaders Resign Amid National Outrage
The Republican chat scandal 2025 prompted the Young Republican National Federation board to demand immediate resignations from all participants. Vermont State Senator Sam Douglass faced bipartisan calls to step down, with Republican Governor Phil Scott and GOP lawmakers joining Democrats in condemning his involvement in the RESTOREYR WAR ROOM chat.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the messages “revolting” and demanded that Republican Party leadership, including President Donald Trump, publicly condemn the scandal. However, Vice President JD Vance declined to criticize the messages, instead redirecting attention to allegedly offensive comments made by Democratic candidates.
Racist Content Shocks Political Observers
The GOP group chat controversy included repeated use of racial slurs, with participants referring to Black people as “monkeys” and “watermelon people.” Republican leaders antisemitic messages featured jokes celebrating Adolf Hitler, with one member stating they “love Hitler.” Another participant, Bobby Walker, then vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans, reportedly said that rape was “epic” in the leaked conversations.
The chat members were competing factions within the Young Republican organization, using the private Telegram group to coordinate strategy. Multiple participants acknowledged the potential damage if their conversations became public, with one member writing, “If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked.”
Political Fallout Continues
The Young Republican leaders resign wave continues as more details emerge from the scandal. Peter Giunta issued an apology but claimed the logs were obtained through “extortion” and may have been “deceptively doctored,” though he took responsibility for the content. The Young Republican National Federation condemned the behavior as “disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and in direct opposition to the values our movement represents.”
As the controversy unfolds, political analysts suggest the scandal could have lasting implications for Republican youth outreach efforts and may influence upcoming elections as voters evaluate the party’s response to extremism within its ranks.
