Interior official compared Parkland students to Nazis: report

by Avery Anapol - 04/09/18 11:36 AM ET

An official in the Interior Department compared student survivors of the Parkland school shooting to Nazis on his personal Facebook page.

In one post, Kevin Sabo, acting chief of the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs at the Bureau of Reclamation in the Interior Department, shared an article from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro showing Parkland student David Hogg with a raised fist.

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He added the comment: “Is this child giving a nazi salute? What the hell is the left doing to these kids?”

Sabo’s controversial posts were first reported by Talking Points Memo, and most appear to have been removed from his Facebook page, though the one about the salute could still be seen on Monday.

In one post reported by TPM that can no longer be seen on his Facebook page, Sabo wrote, “The Nazis took everyone’s guns away too. A lot of similarities with these kids.”

Sabo is a career employee at the Bureau of Reclamation, serving as a civil service congressional affairs liaison. He was hired before the Trump administration.

A spokesperson for the Bureau said the agency has “no comment on the personal views expressed on his Facebook page,” adding that “civil servants are guaranteed First Amendment rights to communicate their own views on their own time on their own social media sites, even if some would find those views disagreeable or the primary sources erroneous.”

Sabo also shared a post that claimed the shooting was a conspiracy tied to Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the CIA’s “Project MKUltra mind control techniques,” according to TPM. The post also referred to the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

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Seventeen people were killed by a lone gunman on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland. Students from the school have emerged since the killings as high-profile advocates for gun control.

Several of the students, included Hogg, have gained massive social media followings — and the attention of critics, some of whom have circulated conspiracy theories about them.

Hogg, for example, has been falsely labeled as a “crisis actor” for his television appearances.

Sabo has reportedly posted about other right-wing conspiracy theories, including one post on Inauguration Day claiming that protestors were being “paid by the Democrats to riot.”

Sabo formerly served as a staffer on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and on the Senate Commerce Committee, according to TPM.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and disbarred in D.C. after being convicted in 2000 in a Virginia court for attempting to maliciously wound a girlfriend by cutting the brakes to her car. The woman crashed her car into a fence, but there were no injuries.

Sabo, who maintained his innocence throughout the trial, lost an appeal of his conviction and served 12 months.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reinstated Sabo to the Bar in 2012 despite another a charge in 2009 for larceny by false pretenses that involved a dispute at Home Depot. That charge was dismissed after Sabo did 75 hours of community service.

Tags Debbie Wasserman Schultz Interior Department Nazis Parkland shooting