"Everybody was shocked": Trump joked about “Nazi ovens" in meeting with Jewish business leaders

A former vice president of the Trump Organization said Donald Trump once jokingly referenced "Nazi ovens" in a meeting with several Jewish executives. 

Barbara Res told MSNBC host Ali Velshi that Trump was bragging to his team about a new hire, who was German. “And he looked at a couple of our executives who happen to be Jewish, and he said ‘Watch out for this guy, he sort of remembers the ovens,’ you know, and then smiled,” Res said.

“Everybody was shocked,” she said. “I cannot believe he said that. He was making a joke about the Nazi ovens and eating people,” referencing Trump’s stated "support" for fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter. 

Velshi then asked Res for her thoughts on Trump’s allegiance to the religious right.

“His embrace of religion is absolute nonsense,” Res replied, adding that Trump would “mock” religious people. She left the Trump organization in 1998, saying Trump mistreated her and her colleagues.

Leading up to the election, Trump has repeatedly tried to shame Jewish Americans into voting Republican. In March, Trump said Jews who vote for President Joe Biden should be "ashamed of themselves."