The Department of Labor reinstated a political appointee Wednesday night who resigned under pressure after a Bloomberg Law reporter accused him of anti-Semitism for a Facebook post in which he was actually condemning anti-Semites in the alt-right, the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively learned.
Acting Secretary Patrick Pizzella âpersonally made this decision after carefully reviewing all the facts and circumstances,â a senior Labor Department official told the DCNF. âHe concluded that a correction is much better than an injustice.â
Leif Olson abruptly left the department 18 days after joining the federal government, after moving his family from Texas to take the job. The departure came after Bloomberg Law reporter Ben Penn contacted the White House and Labor Department about what he portrayed as an anti-Semitic Facebook post from 2016. Penn cropped out in a Tuesday article portions of the exchange that directly referenced it being âepic sarcasm.â
âOn Friday, August 30, 2019, senior policy advisor of the Wage and Hour Division Leif Olson offered his resignation and the department accepted,â the department said in a statement to the DCNF. âFollowing a thorough reexamination of the available information and upon reflection, the department has concluded that Olson has satisfactorily explained the tone and content of his sarcastic social media post and will return to his position.â
âWhat makes this one remarkable is that Olsonâs Facebook page was public to his non-friends. Any cursory screening of his social media accounts couldâve uncovered the anti-Semitism,â Penn tweeted.
A cursory reading of the post showed it to be a condemnation of anti-Semitism and conspiracies on the far-right, coming from the standpoint of the center-right.
Olson resigned within four hours of Penn emailing government officials about the post. It is unclear whether Olsonâs supervisor, head of the Wage and Hour Division Cheryl Stanton, pressured him to resign and why the resignation was accepted.
Political pundits across the spectrum condemned Bloomberg and encouraged the Labor Department to reinstate Olson.
Liberal site Vox published a story titled: âHow mocking anti-Semitism got a Trump official falsely accused of actual anti-Semitism. You donât have to agree with Leif Olsonâs politics to think this situation is ridiculous.â
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple wrote there was no âexcuse for Bloomberg Law reporter Ben Penn. ⊠Those âanti-Semiticâ posts are plainly sarcastic, rendering them not anti-Semitic.â
Bloomberg quoted Jake Hyman, a spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League, saying, âThe post in question is clearly anti-Semitic.â Itâs unclear whether ADL looked into the matter. âWe appreciate Mr. Olsonâs clarification that he intended to be sarcastic with his posts and accept his explanation of the content in question,â ADL said after an inquiry from the Post.
Olson wrote a public Facebook post in August 2016 mocking Paul Nehlen, an anti-Semitic, alt-right candidate who challenged then-House Speaker Paul Ryan in the Wisconsin Republican primary. It said, âEstablishment insider RINO corporate tool Paul Ryan was finally brought to heel in tonightâs primary election. ⊠The guy just suffered a massive, historic, emasculating 70-point victory.â
Since the opposite happened â Ryan trounced Nehlen in a landslide â everything that followed could only be read as tongue-in-cheek.
When a Facebook user played along with the sarcasm, saying Ryan is âa Jew. Everyone knows that,â Olson responded, âIt must be true because Iâve never seen the Lamestream Media report it, and you know they protect their own.â
Penn apparently misinterpreted a comically exaggerated version of the far-rightâs heated language to be the way a Trump appointee genuinely spoke.
(Screenshot: Facebook via Daily Caller News Foundation)
Penn quoted Olson explaining that âIt was sarcastic criticism of the alt-rightâs conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic positions,â but still referred to the post as anti-Semitic.
Penn used it to paint a narrative about the Trump administration, tweeting, âThis is the latest in a series of mishaps under the Trump administration personnel vetting system.â
Bloomberg declined to retract the story, in part citing that Olson was no longer working at the department as an admission of guilt.
âWe stand behind our reporting,â spokesman David Peikin told the Post. âWe contacted the White House and the Department of Labor asking for comment on Mr. Olsonâs Facebook posts. Within four hours, the Department of Labor responded that Mr. Olson had resigned.â
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