GOP freshman firebrand targets global consulting giant over 'plainly illegal' DEI practices

A top House GOP firebrand is accusing a multibillion-dollar global corporation of injecting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into the U.S. economy at a time when Americans are struggling with rising cost of living. Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who chairs the House Oversight Committee's Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses, is targeting McKinsey & Company in a new probe over DEI reports that he says were "highly influential in American corporations." He's accusing the massive consulting firm of publishing reports that say race- and gender-based hiring practices are beneficial to U.S. companies, which he argues are a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Meanwhile, Americans are at the mercy of many of the same companies as they grapple with high prices across housing, food, and other areas. GEORGIA GOP GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL VOWS TO 'BAN DEI' IN STATE BUT HIS OWN NONPROFIT URGED CEOS TO INVEST IN IT "These McKinsey reports have been highly influential, being cited by publicly traded companies, asset managers, proxy advisory firms, and banking institutions, among others, as cause for embedding illegal racial and sex-based targets into hiring, promotion, executive compensation, and asset manager proxy voting policies," Gill wrote in a letter sent Monday. "With the support of the previous administration, progressive activists cited McKinsey’s reports to push companies, governments, and stock exchanges to implement rules which forced or incentivized illegal corporate racial or gender-based hiring and disclosure policies." Gill also questioned whether the findings of that report were legitimate. "Although in 2024 McKinsey stated that it 'stands by its findings,' other researchers have found zero statistical correlation between a company’s gender and racial diversity and its financial performance," the letter said. "Racial discrimination in the employment context, including under the guise of DEI, has been pervasive despite being plainly illegal for over half a century." LEGAL EXPERT CALLS FOR SMITHSONIAN LEADERSHIP OVERHAUL OVER ‘SELF-LOATHING’ PORTRAYAL OF HISTORY: ‘IT’S BILE’ It comes just after Gill's panel led high-profile hearings into the Smithsonian Institute's teaching of American history, bringing national attention to what Republicans are calling a warped and politicized version of the U.S. Gill accused National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig of pushing a left-wing ideological agenda rather than facilitating a straightforward education on the country's past. Hertig stood by the museum's teachings, which she called apolitical. In the letter sent Monday, Gill cited a 2026 White House Economic Report that said DEI initiatives cost the U.S. economy roughly $94 billion in 2023. He also pointed out that four reports published by McKinsey between 2015 and 2023 argued that companies with increased racial and gender diversity financially outperformed companies without. NEW YORK TIMES SUED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER ALLEGED 'DEI-RELATED' EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION "Researchers assessing the McKinsey DEI studies cannot recreate the results and also find that McKinsey likely swapped the cause and effect of its DEI conclusions," Gill wrote. "The Executive Office of the President has identified $94 billion in annual economic costs to the U.S. economy due to promotion of otherwise illegal race and gender-based hiring practices, perhaps in part motivated by the findings of McKinsey’s DEI reports that are partially inaccurate or wholly incorrect." McKinsey's corporate website states, "The business case for gender equality, diversity, and inclusion is strong and growing stronger." The website estimated that the national GDP would go up by $12 trillion if the workforce gender gap is narrowed by 2025, but no update appears to be provided. Another statistic cites $2 billion in additional revenue "if financial inclusion efforts broaden services for black Americans." Fox News Digital reached out to the company for comment on Gill's letter.