President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a federal watchdog agency is causing liberals in the media to have meltdowns due to several factors.

According to Fox’s San Diego affiliate, the individual Trump is nominating for the spot is “a former right-wing podcast host who has praised criminally charged influencer Andrew Tate as an ‘extraordinary human being.’” They also say, in the opening paragraph, that the president’s choice “promoted the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged.”

The pick is a longtime Gateway Pundit journalist, Paul Ingrassia, who, if confirmed, would be in charge of the Office of Special Counsel. Its primary tasks are to protect whistleblowers and enforce the Hatch Act, which places limits on partisan political activities of workers in the government.

Ingrassia, who allegedly supported “martial law” and “secession” according to Huffpost, first served in the Trump administration earlier in 2025 as a White House liaison to the Justice Department. His duties included attending the release of some of the Jan. 6 rioters let out of prison after Trump pardoned them.

He was then reassigned after he got into a disagreement with another official concerning “loyalty” to the president and is now the liaison between the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.

Ingrassia, 30, hosted a podcast with his sister, Olivia, for several years called “Right on Point.” The program included talks with conservative political commentators and issues pertinent to Americans. The show concluded in 2020.

The X account for the show promoting the podcast stated in December 2020 that Trump needed to “declare martial law and secure his re-election,” after the results of the race were contested due to evidence of tampering having been found in many locations around the country.

In a social media post on Thursday that seemingly has media outlets alarmed, Trump described Ingrassia as being a “highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar.”

Responding to his nomination, Ingrassia called it his “highest honor.”

“As Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement,” Ingrassia said in a post of his own on social media.

Ingrassia has done work for a law firm that represented the controversial Tate brothers, Andrew and Tristan, who were charged with rape and human trafficking in Romania and Britain.

Media outlets are also taking issue with a Substack post he wrote titled “Free Nick Fuentes,” which slammed Twitter (at the time) for its decision to ban him for what they called “antisemitic” and “white supremacist” rhetoric.