Donald Trump names controversial figure to N.H. leadership team
Josh Youssef, the Laconia businessman named to Donald Trump’s New Hampshire leadership team, has an extensive history of provocative remarks and controversial conduct. The 2012 Republican state senate nominee in District 7 will serve as the Belknap County chair for Trump’s exploratory presidential campaign.
In 2013, the state Attorney General’s Office ruled Youssef violated the state’s election law when he published a deceptive and misleading website during his unsuccessful senate campaign.
The charges grew out of a public spat between Youssef and attorney Ed Mosca, who was representing Youssef’s ex-wife in their contentious divorce case. In August 2012, the Concord Monitor reported Youssef had accused Mosca of trying to sabotage his campaign by posting court documents related to the divorce on his blog, edmosca.com.
A few weeks later, an anonymous website (first reported by Miscellany Blue) appeared that was virtually identical to Mosca’s blog in look and feel. The copycat site, edmoscablog.com, praised Youssef and accused Mosca of waging a “personal vendetta” against him.
Mosca filed a formal complaint and the Republican leadership of the state Senate called on Youssef to publicly address the allegations. “These allegations are serious and deserve to be fully investigated,” Senate President Peter Bragdon and Majority Leader Jeb Bradley said in a statement.
Youssef eventually admitted creating the copycat site. The state Attorney General’s Office ruled the act violated a state law that prohibits falsely representing someone else for the purpose of influencing an election.
In a YouTube video, Youssef defended the anonymous copycat website as protected political speech, which he called “the underpinning of our entire political process.” Mosca’s complaint, he said, was “just a politically-motivated trick to try to derail my bid for the state Senate.”
Court documents from Youssef’s divorce also revealed he failed to file federal income tax returns between 2004 and 2008. Concord Monitor reporter Annmarie Timmins confirmed the records indicated Youssef owed $60,000 to the IRS, which began garnishing his wages in January 2012.
Timmins also reported Judge James Carroll ruled that Youssef had under-reported his income in order to reduce his child support obligation. Youssef was ordered to pay an additional $17,000 in child support to make up for the under-reported income.
Youssef created more controversy during a debate with Democrat Andrew Hosmer when he was asked if he supported increased funding to prevent domestic violence. Timmins reported Youssef replied that he believes abusers should be held accountable but domestic violence victims “need to be educated so they stop returning to a violent ‘lifestyle.’ ”
The campaign ended but the provocative comments continued. In 2013, Youssef called the Affordable Care Act a “communist redistribution of wealth” that will destroy the middle class. “Not only is Obamacare a communist redistribution of wealth and a redistribution of health, but it also directly penalizes insurance companies for being profitable…” he wrote. “The organic ends that Obamacare will achieve will be the destruction of the middle class and the destruction of the free market.”
Last year, Youssef called Islam “a Satan-inspired and FALSE religion.” He made the comments on the Facebook page of Jerry DeLemus, the Rochester activist who commanded the armed militia at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch during last year’s standoff with Federal officials.
“Islam is a Satan-inspired and FALSE religion. That is my 2 cents,” Youssef wrote. “‘Tolerance’ is what got America into this most precarious situation. It’s time for a little bit of intolerance, and a whole lot of political incorrectness.”
“People want tolerance?” he asked. “They can feel free to believe in Allah, the fake God, the ‘god’ of death, destruction, polygamy, and all things anti-christ…and I’ll be tolerant of that,” Youssef continued. “But I demand they be tolerant of my right to ridicule it!”
Earlier this year, Youssef blasted House lawmakers for voting against a special Redress of Grievances Committee to hear citizen complaints. New Hampshire “is being run by ignorant, arrogant miscreants,” he wrote.