President Donald Trump is expected to appoint former Breitbart editor Sebastian Gorka to serve on his National Security Council, adding a third former staff member of the far-right website to his White House staff. Gorka, who was arrested last year for attempting to board a plane with a handgun, will advise the president on counteracting terror threats.
On January 31, 2016, TSA agents arrested Gorka when he tried to board a plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia with a weapon in his carry-on bag. He pleaded guilty in August and will be sentenced in Arlington Circuit Court on Feb. 3.
Gorka declined ThinkProgress’ request for comment and his attorney, Chris Oprison, did not immediately respond to requests to discuss the case.
Under Virginia law, carrying a weapon into an airport terminal is a class one misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 months in jail and a fine of $2,500. Gorka will also be required to forfeit his weapon, a 9mm Browning handgun, according to police reports.
It’s unclear if the charges also required him to revoke his security clearance, which would be necessary if he were to serve in the White House.
At Breitbart, Gorka worked as national security editor and published articles about how President Obama “helped ISIS” by holding a summit on violent extremism, Saudi Arabia’s connection to Al Qaeda and the September 11th attacks, and how “America is Losing the War Against Sunni Jihadists and Empowering The Shia Caliphate.”
He has also been a frequent Fox News commentator, discussing strategies for counterterrorism on at least 50 occasions. In April 2016, he commented on the network about a report that “at least 50 supporters of ISIS” allegedly work at the airport in Brussels.
“It’s very, very disturbing, but it shouldn’t surprise us,” he said. “This is what the Jihadis are going to want to do… This isn’t just a problem in Europe. It’s one here.”
According to a Business Insider report, Fox News terminated its contract with Gorka when network executives learned about his expected White House position.
In April 2016, Gorka published his first book titled Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War. The inside flap of the book calls Gorka “one of the most experienced and sought-after authorities on counterterrorism.” According to the synopsis, Gorka believes that America has been at war since September 11 and that “war is eminently winnable if we remove our ideological blinders and apply basic strategic principles.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, he also served as the Major General Matthew C. Horner Distinguished Chair of Military Theory at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia from July 2014 to August 2016, the same month when he pleaded guilty to the gun charge. A spokesperson for the university told ThinkProgress that Gorka was never officially employed by the university, though he did work for the Marine Corps University Foundation.
Gorka has not spoken publicly about the arrest, but two days after he was arrested last year, he responded to a tweet about the incident by claiming that he “made a simple mistake” and “got a ticket.”
According to court documents, Gorka faces misdemeanor charges and could be sentenced to jail time, constituting more than just “a ticket.”
Gorka also appears to have deleted his Twitter account after ThinkProgress contacted him Friday.
If Gorka is officially named to the Trump administration, he would be the third Breitbart staffer in the White House. Trump’s chief strategist and senior counsel Steve Bannon founded the website and Julia Hahn, a Breitbart staff writer, is expected to serve as special assistant to the president and work under Bannon.
He also would not be the first to have faced criminal charges. Bannon was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and battery in California two decades ago, but the charges were later dropped when his ex-wife did not appear in court.