LAS VEGAS — Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) on Sunday disavowed the antisemitic views and white nationalist affiliations of several former staffers and said that he understands why Jewish voters are concerned, but also suggested there was little he could have done to identify those red flags in the hiring process.

Collins, the GOP nominee for Georgia’s Senate seat, has been mostly quiet publicly about the repeated disclosures concerning his former staffers — as well as his son-in-law — and is working to court Jewish voters concerned about Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) record of voting against aid to Israel on multiple occasions.

“Those staffers — those views are abhorrent, and they don’t represent my values,” Collins told reporters at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit. “And you can look at my voting record.”

Pressed by Jewish Insider on how or whether he would change vetting procedures to ensure that such staff didn’t find their way onto his team again in the future, Collins downplayed the connections between himself and their activity, saying “this was after they were on my team and gone.”

But at least one of those staffers was engaged in the activity while still working for Collins:  his former Chief of Staff Kip Talley was reportedly active in a white nationalist group chat discussing efforts to free a Holocaust denier from prison while still on Collins’ team.

“I can’t see into the future, but regardless I still don’t agree with them, period,” Collins continued. “We can vet all day long, but what happens when they leave and they go out into the future — that’s a different question. But I certainly don’t want people around me like that.”

He said that he sees “a rise of antisemitism and hate with young people around the globe, and we certainly need to address that because so many of these young people feel like they’ve been forgotten.”

Collins said that education and opportunity are key to pulling young people out of such radicalization and conspiracy theories.

Collins cast Ossoff as positioning himself to run as a Democratic Socialists of America candidate for president, highlighting Ossoff’s recent endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed for Michigan’s Senate seat and the support he previously received from antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.

Neither Ossoff nor El-Sayed are DSA members. Piker disavowed Ossoff this week after Ossoff condemned recent antisemitic comments.

“We are both polar opposites, even on where we stand on Israel,” Collins said. “And it goes well past just the support for Israel and the Jewish population.”

In remarks to the RJC audience, Collins emphasized that his support for Israel is rooted in his religious faith.

“My faith tells me to support Israel,” Collins said. “I don’t have to answer to anybody in this room, but I tell you what, I’ve got to answer to the man upstairs, and by God, that’s important to me, and I know where I stand on that.”

He went on to emphasize that, even apart from faith, the contributions Israel has made to the world and the ways it has supported U.S. interests — including opposing Iran and other terrorist regimes — make supporting Israel worthwhile.

“That’s my stand. It always will be, and I have no problem professing that,” Collins said.