LAS VEGAS — Leo Terrell, a senior counsel at the Department of Justice and head of the DOJ’s antisemitism task force, confirmed a report in The New York Times on Monday of friction between himself and Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights and Terrell’s onetime boss, including that the two have not communicated directly in more than a year.

Terrell also previewed plans for his upcoming national tour to combat antisemitism, which he said aims to grow the tent of allies in fighting antisemitism as well as leverage public-private partnerships, social media, new data tracking tools and more to expand efforts to combat Jew hatred.

The Times reported that Terrell repeatedly complained about disrespect by Dhillon, that the two clashed over investigations into Columbia University, that Dhillon sought to block Terrell from Fox News appearances and that she sought to remove Terrell’s top aide.

“That story is accurate, 100%. That’s an accurate representation of my relationship with Harmeet Dhillon,” Terrell said in an interview with Jewish Insider on the sidelines of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s leadership summit. When pressed on Dhillon’s own public comments about her work fighting antisemitism, he said only that the media should “go beyond the headlines and learn the truth.”

Dhillon has spoken publicly on numerous occasions about her efforts to fight antisemitism, with a particular focus on efforts to utilize the FACE Act, which prevents individuals from obstructing access to houses of worship, to go after protesters targeting synagogues and what she said are broader efforts to dismantle the groups behind such incidents. She has also been involved in efforts to combat antisemitism on college campuses.

Though he initially said that he would not speak further about Dhillon beyond confirming the Times reporting, Terrell made further disparaging allusions to her during his conversation with JI, including stating that some laws on the books to protect Jewish Americans are not being enforced.

“The wrong people are in charge. The wrong people. Take that statement [with] one of the questions you asked me previously. When you’ve got people who consider Tucker Carlson a friend and a client, and want to make sure no one knows — give me a break. They’re in the government. Give me a break,” Terrell said. “I’m not putting two and two together. You’re smart enough, but those things are kept buried.”

Dhillon previously served as an attorney for Carlson.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Dhillon.

Despite his apparent tension with Dhillon, Terrell offered high praise for others in the administration including President Donald Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who he said have been fully supportive of all of his efforts and proposals related to his work.

“Even though [antisemitism] exists, this administration honestly is working to try to curb it,” Terrell said. “I know I could do a lot more, and so the job that I have to do is to do more, and with Trump, Blanche and Woodward, I can do it. And then you work around other people and you just go forward. But I love the work that I’m doing. I wish it wasn’t necessary, but I will continue this job in the manner I’m doing as long as I’m able to do it.”

With the backing of Trump, Blanche and Woodward, Terrell is about to launch a 15-city tour on combating antisemitism, focusing on cities where the Jewish community has faced attacks. He said the details of the private partners that will be part of the tour should be finalized this week.

He emphasized, during remarks to the RJC, the need to “expand the base” of those fighting antisemitism beyond the Jewish community and usual allies. He emphasized to JI that fighting antisemitism isn’t an issue for the Jewish community alone.

Terrell said that goal is central to his tour, which aims to bring together allies across the entire American community, from all religions and races, and go beyond “talking to the choir” at events like the RJC summit.

The tour will also include senior members of other departments including the Labor, Treasury and State departments, to target the problem of antisemitism from various angles — from going after antisemitic unions to targeting the nonprofit status of groups promoting antisemitism to expelling visa-holders who are spreading antisemitism.

Terrell also aims to bring in nongovernmental figures from other walks of life, including sports and other pop culture figures. He said he hopes that 90% of the figures speaking during the tour will be non-Jews.

“I’m not trying to change Hasan Piker. I’m not trying to change Tucker Carlson. I’m trying to change the 60% of the people in the middle that have been getting misinformation,” Terrell said.

Partnering with media figures and influencers outside of government, Terrell is also aiming to create a social media campaign to support his efforts across platforms and forums.

And he said he will be launching an app to nationally track every incident of antisemitism across the country, including whether local law enforcement and prosecutors take action.

He said he’ll also work to hold accountable local officials in the cities he’s visiting who have failed to take antisemitism seriously, and to address the creeping growth of antisemitism in K-12 schools.

And he will aim to visit with every local Jewish community in each city.

Terrell described his work as urgent to pursue before the end of the current administration, while a supportive president remains in office.

“If we don’t set up guardrails right now, this country is in trouble because we have a president right now, in my opinion, who has taken such an aggressive step towards fighting antisemitism,” he said. “We’ve got to do something now.”

In addition to the tour, Terrell is launching a 15-person bipartisan advisory council on combating antisemitism, the appointees for which are awaiting approval from Trump. The council, he said, aims to write actionable recommendations for how various cabinet agencies can be better addressing antisemitism that can be implemented immediately.

Though he was not able to disclose all of the members he recommended for the commission, Terrell mentioned that Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is one.

Terrell said that he believes that the recent FBI statistics showing antisemitic hate crimes comprising a majority of religious hate crimes in the country in 2025 and the second-largest category of hate crimes overall likely undercount the extent of the problem because of what he described as issues in major cities’ governance.

Large cities like New York City, Terrell said, ignore or misrepresent incidents of antisemitism as free speech or downplay the severity of antisemitic attacks. “That is a pattern and a practice in a lot of cities,” he said.

He added that the data also doesn’t capture the hundreds of thousands of dollars the Jewish community spends annually on security costs so that it can gather safely — what Terrell refers to as the “Jewish tax.”