Trump taps GOP operative who once compiled list of Jews for Nixon

US President Donald Trump has appointed a Republican operative who once drew up a list of prominent Jewish officials for Richard Nixon, to chair a government think tank.

“The President intends to appoint Frederic Malek of Virginia to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution and to designate him as Chair,” The White House says in a statement.

In 1971, Malek was tapped by Nixon’s chief of staff H.R. Haldeman to compile a list of important Jews in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as part of an attempt by the president to rid the government of what he called a Jewish cabal seeking to undermine him.

Malek later apologized and has been recognized favorably by the ADL and other Jewish groups. He played a role in George Bush and John McCain’s presidential campaigns.