Outgoing Civil Rights Chief Harmeet Dhillon Scorches Fringe Conservatives Who Attack Her Indian Heritage

Newly free from the constraints of public office, Trump’s former top civil rights attorney, Harmeet Dhillon, is shredding the Christian nationalists and other rightwing trolls celebrating her exit from the Trump administration.Ms. Dhillon, who was born in India and raised in The Bronx and North Carolina, is a practicing Sikh who closed out the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention by covering her hair with a shawl and offering a blessing called the Ardas in Punjabi and English. After her resignation was announced Thursday, white nationalists called her a “demon worshipper,” and called to push non-Christians out of the Republican party.“All you trash who have denigrated my prayer to the ONE GOD many faiths believe in, deeply hurt me for the last two years, but I could not comment back because I was part of a campaign and then confirmation -/ administration,” she wrote on X. “It’s over. I won’t be silent any longer.”The former assistant attorney general defended her record of service “on behalf of ALL people of faith in America” throughout her 34-year career. “I welcome all comers who think they can prove they did more than I did for ALL people of faith in this country,” she continued. “There are none. I intend to keep fighting for ALL people of faith in America for the rest of my life. But I won’t hide my own faith for one second. It’s protected by our Constitution.”Ms. Dhillon reshaped the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division during the first half of President Trump’s current term, putting the department’s muscle behind the president’s push to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and affirmative action. She approved Texas’s 2025 redistricting measure that aimed to give Republicans five additional House seats, and later went on to oversee poll monitoring in the midterm elections where Democrats swept Congress. The reorientation of the Civil Rights Division under her leadership made her a boogeyman of the left over the course of her 18-month tenure, but it did not spare Ms. Dhillon from rightwing attacks targeting her religion and ethnicity. Notre Dame University College Republicans responded to her resignation Thursday in an X post saying “Good riddance. Moving forward, we don’t need any more demon worship at the RNC either,” a reference to a Sikh prayer Ms. Dhillon offered to close out the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention. Ms. Dhillon responded coolly, writing, “stay classy, kids,” in a direct reply to the racist message. Two hours later, she offered an update, writing “these children deleted their racist post. I had constraints in government on what I could say. They are over.”By Friday evening the outgoing official said she was past threatening internet bigots with legal action. “That was yesterday! Today I’m already starting to sue people!” she wrote.When an X account identifying itself as Georgia College Republicans posted a similar message warning that “Demon worshippers will not be tolerated in the Republican Party,” Ms. Dhillon fired back.“What are you children going to do about it? Also, who are you? Show your faces and tell us how you are going to control who gets to be a Republican,” she wrote, later adding that the account appeared to be managed by also-rans “misrepresenting themselves” as the Georgia College Republicans organization. “I’ve been told that this band of groypers are losers who couldn’t win election as leaders,” she wrote. “Groypers” refers to an internet subculture of rightwing racist and antisemitic trolls. The name stems from a meme of a smug frog that has become synonymous with white supremacist content online.Gloves off, Ms. Dhillon brushed off Texas-based Christian nationalist Joel Webbon, who repeated the “demon worshipper” slander and told her to “Get out of my country.”“Who are you?” she asked.On Saturday morning she resumed, this time taking on Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal after the Washington Democrat accused her of making “a mockery” of the Civil Rights Division, saying “She will not be missed. Enjoy your knitting.”“Grow up, Pramila,” Ms. Dhillon responded. Bullying and trolling are not really the role of members of Congress. You are a public servant. Act like it.”Ms. Dhillon also defended her side hustle, writing “knitting is a skill” and recommending it as “part of a healthy, balanced life.” “No need to be hateful all day!” she wrote.The former assistant attorney general has a well-known passion for textile arts. She founded Sea Ranch Woolworks back in 2012, selling wool and scarves online. While in public office she regularly shared her knitting designs and techniques on social media.In February US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro video gushing over a hat Ms. Dhillon purportedly knitted for her and joking that she had to “rifle through” Ms. Dhillon’s office while she was out to find it.On Saturday, a parody account posted an AI-generated image of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a homespun sweater, knitting a hat in the Oval Office as he took over Ms. Dhillon’s old job, “bringing his total number of simultaneous cabinet roles to 14.”“This is so wrong. I use the magic loop method on circular knitting, not straight needles,” Ms. Dhillon replied gamely.Along with encouraging her detractors to get a life, Ms. Dhillon interspersed her commentary with posts about her own, including her realization — 30 years late — that Lauryn Hill’s acoustic arrangement of ‘Killing Me Softly’ is one of the rare cover songs better than the original, pictures of vegetables, and shoutouts to a clothing brand aimed at protecting women’s sports. “Walk time — taking a short break from calling out all the BS here that I couldn’t before,” she captioned a selfie showing off her XX-XY Athletics sweatshirt.Ms. Dhillon struck a more serious tone as the onslaught continued, referencing her late husband, Sarvjit Randhawa, who died in 2024.“My husband watched me pray in our Sikh faith at the RNC — and one of our last text messages before he died a couple of weeks later was telling me he was so proud of me,” she wrote. “He was supposed to be there, but he was also dying from two serious illnesses, and he could not make it at the last minute. Our medical staff at home took care of him while he watched me pray in our faith tradition…just as we did at home daily over each meal.” Ms. Dhillon told Fox News that she plans to return to private practice.

Outgoing Civil Rights Chief Harmeet Dhillon Scorches Fringe Conservatives Who Attack Her Indian Heritage

Outgoing Civil Rights Chief Harmeet Dhillon Scorches Fringe Conservatives Who Attack Her Indian Heritage

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