As we reported yesterday, Florida Republican representative Matt Gaetz is continuing to defend white supremacist Holocaust denier Chuck C. Johnson (who is NOT ME), after inviting him to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last week.

Speaking to NewsRadio 1620, Gaetz cited the Republican Jewish Coalition to defend Johnson, saying their founder was going to release a statement that Johnson was not a Holocaust denier.

But the RJC was not pleased to have Gaetz try to use them to defend this vile individual, and now they’ve released a statement, published in the Tampa Bay Times by Adam C. Smith today:

Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition said he did not appreciate Gaetz citing the RJC to defend Johnson’s views about the Holocaust:

“This organization is deeply troubled by the comments from Charles C. Johnson, and it is incredibly important for the congressman to acknowledge he is a Holocaust denier and has extensive writings that attest to that and that it was wrong to bring him to the State of the Union,” Brooks said. “We are are deeply troubled by any inference that our organization believes otherwise.”

We should also point out that when Gaetz made his claim about the RJC yesterday, he was ignoring a tweet directed at him by the RJC last Friday, making it quite clear that they were not going to defend Johnson.

Rep. Matt Gaetz on his SOTU guest: “He’s not a holocaust denier.” https://t.co/Ou5dGu9Z1U That guest on Reddit: “I do not and never have believed the six million figure… Red Cross numbers of 250,000 dead in the camps from typhus are more realistic.” https://t.co/Gjp6xLfzqU

— michaelscherer (@michaelscherer) February 1, 2018

This is very disappointing. @RepMattGaetz must revisit these remarks. It’s unacceptable to make excuses for Holocaust denial. cc @mattgaetz https://t.co/7fNeB0lEmu

— RJC (@RJC) February 2, 2018