On Monday morning — as Jews around the world marked Yom Kippur — Politico published a pointed attack targeting David Milstein, an observant Jew who serves as senior advisor to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, labeling his actions as a “national security threat” while failing to provide evidence for the claim.

In a WhatsApp message sent to wedding invitees, Milstein, who lives in Israel, wrote that those who wanted to give a “monetary wedding gift” in either “U.S. dollars or Israeli shekels” to the couple could do so through a provided QR code, Politico’s Adam Wren reported. 

Politico’s Monday morning flagship newsletter “Playbook” led with the story, accompanied by the subject line: “Huckabee’s ‘walking counterintel red flag’” — using Milstein’s wedding message as a hook to cite anonymous intelligence sources who labeled him a national security threat.

An individual with knowledge of the situation told Jewish Insider that Wren messaged Milstein just before 7 p.m. ET on Sunday — or 2 a.m. local time on Monday in Israel, where Milstein was observing Yom Kippur — to inform him the story would run the following morning.

Wren did not respond to a request for comment as to the timing of the story’s publication.

Milstein’s defenders were quick to speak up on his behalf. “If there is a ‘scandal!’ blame me and his actual friends for wanting some direction on how to honor him,” Huckabee wrote on X.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), for whom Milstein previously worked, accused Politico of having “repeatedly published antisemitic dual loyalty conspiracy theories about American Jews serving in the Trump administration.”

In its reporting, Politico failed to explain federal ethics rules regarding gifts, including wedding presents, from friends. According to the State Department’s published guidelines on financial disclosures, examples of items an employee may typically accept without prior approval under the gift rules, include “Gifts that are clearly motivated by a family relationship or personal friendship rather than the position of the employee,” while “Friendships formed in the course of performing official Department business will generally not meet this standard.” The guidelines note, “Even where prior approval is not required, employees are encouraged to raise questions about the permissibility of gifts with their supervisors or L/EFD.”

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment from JI regarding its policies on gifts and whether it would conduct an investigation following the Politico report. 

Additionally, giving monetary wedding gifts is customary in Jewish circles — important context absent from the Politico report. 

This isn’t the first time in recent months that Politico has made some questionable editorial judgments with its coverage of Israel and antisemitism. 

A day after the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, Wren published an interview with far-left streamer Hasan Piker in which he unironically asked the streamer, “How do we heal the discourse?” — with no mention of Piker’s own contributions to “the discourse” (which have included comments that the U.S. “deserved” 9/11, that Orthodox Jews were “inbred” and, often, that Israelis should be treated as Nazis).

Later in the interview, Piker, a man who has dehumanized Israelis to his audience of millions, was asked, “How do you maintain your humanity, Twitching and then absorbing images like the ones that you saw today, and just being in an increasingly digital world?”

The Beltway publication in March also twisted a quote from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who criticized progressive activists who single out AIPAC donations as a unique problem — in noting that he was swearing off donations from all political action committees. Politico wrote that his response defending AIPAC from criticism was, in its view, a sign that he was “breaking up” with the pro-Israel group.