3 US senators want to know whether Trump's national security aide illegally obtained US citizenship

Three US senators say they want Sebastian Gorka - a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump - investigated over his immigration status.

Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Ben Cardin of Maryland sent a joint letter to the US Justice Department on Friday asking the agency to look into whether Gorka "falsified his naturalization application or otherwise illegally procured his citizenship."

The inquiry comes after an exposé earlier this week alleged that Gorka had ties to Nazi-aligned groups.

The story, published by The Forward, alleged that Gorka is a sworn lifetime member of a Hungarian anti-Semitic, far-right group known as Vitézi Rend, which is listed by the US State Department as having been "under the direction of the Nazi Government of Germany" during World War II.

Gorka has denied the allegations.

The senators said in their letter that they are "deeply concerned" by reports Gorka allegedly hid his supposed connections to Vitézi Rend when he applied for US citizenship, citing US code that prohibits such applicants from making false statements during naturalization proceedings.

The senators said in the letter their concerns about Gorka are aggravated by "the White House's own checkered record on religious discrimination."

"For the first time in decades, the White House's statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day failed to mention the Jewish victims, an omission which Dr. Gorka publicly defended," the letter read. "President Trump was slow to condemn the wave of attacks on Jewish community centers and has yet to condemn the surge in anti-Muslim bigotry."

Additionally, the senators' letter linked the Trump administration's moves to temporarily ban travel to the US from six majority Muslim nations as evidence to suggest public policy from the White House is being guided by principles uncharacteristic of American democracy.