Statement of Freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has a Jewish heritage, was called into question in a Washington Post report published on Friday, which also cast doubt on other aspects of the Florida Republican’s supposed backstory.
Luna described herself in an interview with Jewish Insider last year as a “small fractional Ashkenazi,” referring to the Jewish diaspora. He spoke at the time in defense of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has faced accusations of antisemitism. Luna said in an interview that she identifies as a Christian but her late father, George Mayerhofer, raised her as a Messianic Jew, a faith that recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.
The Washington Post, however, found that some of Mayerhofer’s father’s relatives did not remember practicing Jewish customs. The family said Mayerhofer was actually Catholic.
The family members also said Luna’s grandfather, Heinrich Mayerhofer, served as a Nazi soldier in World War II — though he refused, according to the Post, which also cited immigration records identifying the grandfather as Roman Catholic.
The Post’s investigation sparked controversy over another newly minted Republican lawmaker, Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.), who rudely said that he never claimed to be a Jew, but “a Jew”.
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The Post also notes that Luna only recently decided to embrace her Hispanic heritage. The congresswoman’s ancestry is Mexican-American, and her grandmother was born in Hidalgo, Mexico. However, the Post reported that for the majority of her life, Luna used the Mayerhofer surname.
Luna’s mother encouraged her daughter’s stories about her upbringing. But extended family members who spoke to the Post generally disputed Luna’s claims that she was raised poor and isolated.
The newspaper also reported that Luna’s version of the story about the traumatic home invasion, which she said led her to support more lenient gun control laws, could not be supported by police records or corroborated by her roommate.
For more, to The Washington Post.