White House Silent on Teaching Cabinet Members that Jews Killed Jesus
Trump spokesperson declined to comment on cabinet Bible study that says Israel "executed the Messiah"
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Over the weekend, I emailed the White House press shop to ask for comment on the White House Bible study teaching cabinet members and other administration officials that the Jews killed Jesus.
The slur of deicide is the foundational libel on which almost two millennia of antisemitism have accrued. The administration of Pres. Donald Trump has made antisemitism a priority, punishing colleges for perceived laxity and attempting to deport protesters and writers who oppose Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
But the White House didn’t condemn, or offer any comment on, the literal starting point for antisemitism being taught as Biblical truth to top Trump officials in a Bible study sponsored by cabinet members.
Ralph Drollinger, the head of Capitol Ministries, leads the Bible studies and claims Attorney General Pam Bondi, a key figure in Trump’s antisemitism campaign, as one of his students. Listed sponsors in Drollinger’s pamphlets — including the one blaming the Jews, Israel, for executing Jesus — include U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) sponsor the House and Senate versions of Drollinger’s Bible studies.
As recently as last week, Drollinger’s Bible study taught that religions other than his are “false” religions. Those who associate with ecumenical prayer breakfasts — both the national event and weekly analogues in Congress — “serve to curse our nation,” the study guide said. Trump, of course, is a regular at the National Prayer Breakfast.
I first revealed in June that Drollinger had taught the age-old smear of deicide both in text and on video. The June 13 study guide said:
“[T]he spiritual blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant accrue to the Church for a time (until God grafts Israel back in) due to the present apostasy of Israel, having executed the Messiah.”
In a June 17 video accompanying part 2 of his study guide, Drollinger said:
“Since Paul’s a Jew, he doesn’t want his audience to know, well, what happens to the Jews, because they for by and large rejected the messiah. They’ve been sidetracked. … And they’ve been sidetracked because they crucified their messiah.”
At the end of the clip, Drollinger refers viewers to the Bible study “that I’ll be teaching this week in DC to our Senate, House, and White House members.”
In an email Monday, White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers responded to my request for comment by saying, “I am a little confused. What makes you think this is a ‘White House’ Bible study?”
In my response, I shared some details. Drollinger himself says it’s sponsored by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. His online pamphlets list Hegseth and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner as sponsors. The Pentagon confirmed Hegseth’s attendance to me.
Drollinger has said both Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attend. I also shared with Rogers examples of Drollinger referring to it as “the White House Bible study.”
In her followup, Rogers said:
“This is not an Official WH Bible Study, so I don’t think we would comment.
“Would refer you to Capitol Ministries on their specific teachings and beliefs.”
I explained that I was seeking White House comment on the fact that the Capitol Ministries teachings and beliefs are being taught to and sponsored by cabinet members. And comment on how that squares with the administration’s ostensible crackdown on antisemitism in other quarters.
Rogers had not responded as of Tuesday night. In June, she told the New York Times:
“President Trump has done more than any other president in modern history to stop antisemitic violence and hold corrupt institutions, like Harvard, accountable for allowing anti-American radicalism to escalate.”
Trump himself has a long record of antisemitism rhetoric. He has assailed the legitimacy of Jewish people’s Judaism if they disagree with him politically.
He has traded in toxic tropes about Jewish people, including the claim of financial expertise, which is also found in the White House Bible study.
Jewish groups have opposed Trump’s crackdowns on free speech and academic freedom in the name of fighting antisemitism. They argue that Jews are safest, historically, when governments uphold the rule of law.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street — the pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy group — told me last month that the administration “must hold their staffers accountable” for the Bible study. In a statement, Ben-Ami said:
“While the administration continues to target individuals for protected speech and infringes on academic freedom over claims of antisemitism, they refuse to reckon with the antisemitism in their own ranks.”
Two groups that advocate for secular governance, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, also provided statements condemning the White House Bible studies.
The Anti-Defamation League referred me at the time to its webpage on deicide, which says, “The myth that Jews collectively murdered Jesus … has been used to justify violence against Jews for centuries [and] … has inspired derivative myths, such as accusations that Jews desecrate the Eucharist or poison wells to kill Christian villagers.”
The ADL did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the White House declining to take a position on the Bible study.
I’m a veteran journalist and TV news producer who’s worked at MSNBC — as co-creator of Up w/ Chris Hayes and senior producer for Countdown with Keith Olbermann — CNN, ABCNews, The Daily Show, Air America Radio, and TYT. My original reporting on Substack is made possible by a handful of paid subscribers. Thank you.
Arguing which religion is the right one makes as much sense to me as arguing whether water is plaid or triangular. I stay out of it.
Not Luke. Pins the blame squarely on the Romans; I was taught from Luke on this in Sunday School, back when Southern Baptist churches weren’t controlled by fundamentalists teaching antisemitism as doctrine. And the part from this guy about, “well, y’know, Paul’s a Jewww”…so was Jesus, you ignorant prick. News to you, I know. And these vicious assholes are in charge of our federal government.