"This goes far beyond cowardice" - Milo Yiannopoulos claims Gavin Wax extorted Mike Bartels to obtain Young Republicans' group chats that were leaked

Leaked messages from a Young Republicans' group chat had been exposed in an article by Politico on October 14, 2025. The Telegram chat group named "RESTOREYR WAR ROOM" reportedly included some prominent names like Peter Giunta, the former president of the New York State Young Republican Club and William Hendrix, the vice-chair of the Kansas Young Republicans.

Meanwhile, Milo Yiannopoulos took to X on October 14 and spoke about this controversy. In the lengthy tweet, Milo revealed that a source told him that it was Gavin Wax who pressured Michael Bartels to share the chats and also cooperated with Politico. According to reports by The Times Now News, Bartels is a senior adviser in the Office of General Counsel at the US Small Business Administration. 

In his tweet, Milo wrote,

"This goes far beyond cowardice. Wax, it appears, worked extensively with hostile media to destroy the reputations of a number of fellow conservatives."

According to Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin had previously been accused of bringing drugs and prostitution into the NYGOP. He claimed that Gavin allegedly blackmailed members while misusing the NDAs. In the end, Milo clarified that Wax was once working for the American Jewish Congress. As of now, the tweet has received more than 100K views as well as over 6.1K likes since it was posted on social media.

Exploring the leaked messages from the Young Republicans' group chat 

According to the Politico article, some very problematic remarks were made by the individuals who were present in the group chat. Such instances included calling Black people monkeys and "the watermelon people." They further spoke about putting their political opponents in gas chambers.

From talking about raping enemies to praising Republicans who they thought supported slavery, the group chat members have reportedly said it all. According to Politico, William Hendrix used racial slurs like "n*gga" and "n*gguh." Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans, then believed that raping was "epic."

One of the messages reportedly sent by Peter Giunta read,

"Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers."

According to Politico, many, like Bobby Walker, Anne KayKaty, Joe Maligno, Rachel Hope, Alex Dwyer, continued reacting to the aforementioned message by Giunta. Walker was one of the members of the group chat who seemed to be aware of the consequences in case the contents of the chat ever got leaked. In one message, Walker wrote that if such a thing ever happened, "we would be cooked."

After the article was published, Peter Giunta shared a statement apologizing for his comments. While Giunta apologized, he also questioned the authenticity of the messages and claimed that they could be "deceptively doctored." Giunta called the leak "disheartening" and continued,

"These logs were sourced by way of extortion and provided to Politico by the very same people conspiring against me." 

An official told Politico that the White House was not in any way related to the controversial group chat or the messages shared in it.