BURSTRep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio) said Thursday that the swastika inside of an American flag pictured in his office this week was “indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye,” and that his office was targeted as part of a “ruse” that sent the flag to multiple GOP offices.
“New details have emerged from a coordinated investigation into the vile symbol that appeared in my office. Numerous Republican offices have confirmed that they were targeted by an unidentified group or individual who distributed American flags bearing a similar symbol, which were initially indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye. My office was among those that were subjected to this ruse,” Taylor said in a statement on Thursday.
News broke Wednesday of a junior aide for Taylor being pictured in a video conference call with an American flag with red stripes altered to form a swastika posted in a cubicle in the background. Taylor initially called the image “vile and deeply inappropriate,” and said that Capitol Police was investigating the matter.
The Hill has confirmed that a similar American flag with a swastika was delivered to at least one other House GOP office earlier this year, which discarded the flag, but has not confirmed that the swastika was not visible to the naked eye or whether they inspected the flag.
Fox News first reported that the swastika over the American flag may have been an “optical illusion” that becomes clearer to see in a video or still image, and that other GOP offices received them.
On Thursday, Taylor cleared any members of his staff of wrongdoing.
“After a full-scale internal investigation, I am confident that no employee of this office would knowingly display such a despicable image, and the flag in question was taken down immediately upon the discovery of the obscured symbol it bore,” Taylor said. “As I’ve said previously, I unequivocally condemn hate in any form and continue to collaborate with Capitol Police and the Committee on House Administration to uncover additional details in this investigation.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) addressed the swastika American flag, along with a group chat of Young Republicans that had racist and antisemitic messages, earlier on Thursday.
“Look, obviously, we roundly condemn any of that nonsense,” Johnson said.
“There's a proper investigation ongoing, and the congressman did exactly what he should have done,” Johnson said of the incident. “I can't comment on it any further until that's done.”