WASHINGTON — Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, Republican leader, has disavowed one Tuesday of the country’s most prominent young white supremacists, but declined to criticize former President Donald J. Trump Directly for dinner with the man at his private club, Florida.
Mr. McCarthy He had been silent for many days on Mr. Trump’s decision to have dinner with Nick Fuentes, a racist Holocaust denizen who heads the white nationalist movement America First and Kanye West (the artist and provocateur, who has also made antisemitic remarks).
When reporters pressed him about the dinner on Tuesday, as he left a White House meeting, Mr. McCarthy He criticised Mr. Fuentes’ comments and those made by Mr. West but stopped short of condemning Mr. Trump Thank you for meeting with them.
“I condemn his ideology; it has no place in society at all,” Mr. McCarthy of Mr. Fuentes.
“The president can have meetings with who he wants; I don’t think anybody, though, should have a meeting with Nick Fuentes,” Mr. McCarthy Added later. “And his views shouldn’t — are nowhere within the Republican Party or within this country itself.”
He falsely claimed then that Mr. Trump Had condemned Mr. Fuentes “four times”The former president has never done this. Mr. Trump Although he has stated repeatedly that he didn’t know Mr. Fuentes, he has not denied his views or statements. These include open racism and antisemitism.
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“The president didn’t know who he was,” Mr. McCarthy said.
If it was appropriate for Mr. Trump to dine with Mr. West given the artist’s antisemitic remarks, Mr. McCarthy Reporters were told “I don’t think those are right comments, and I don’t think he should have associated with them.”
Mr. McCarthy’s comments reflected his reluctance to offer a full-throated condemnation of Members of His party, which has ties to right-wing extremeists, is at risk of losing his bid to become speaker.
It was not the first time Mr. McCarthy Has failed to address the extremism issue in the Republican ranks. This is especially true for Mr. Fuentes. He marched at the Unite the Right rally, Charlottesville, Va. in 2017, and outside the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021. He also warned that the country is in danger. “its white demographic core.”
In February, after Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona appeared at Mr. Fuentes’s annual white supremacist gathering, Mr. McCarthy Rare public rebuke of The pair calls their behavior “appalling and wrong.”
“The party should not be associated any time, any place with somebody who is antisemitic,” Mr. McCarthy said at the time, calling Ms. Greene’s failure to leave the stage after Mr. Fuentes praised Adolf Hitler “unacceptable.”
Ms. Greene and Mr. Gosar were not punished, but Ms. Greene boasted that Mr. McCarthyShe will be supporting her as a speaker and will play a significant role in the new Congress. Mr. Gosar was a past America First conference keynote speaker. He also wrote to F.B.I. His official letterhead claimed that Mr. Fuentes has been placed on a No-Fly List and protested this alleged action.
On Tuesday, the White House was asked about the legislators in the conference that had ties to Mr. Fuentes. Ms. Greene was also included. McCarthy said, “She denounced him.”
Ms. Greene has never done this publicly. Days after she spoke at Mr. Fuentes’s conference, she told CBS News: “I do not know Nick Fuentes. I have never heard him speak. I have never seen a video. I do not know what his views are, so I am not aligned with anything that is controversial.”
Ms. Greene stated later that she was being attacked. “the Pharisees in the Republican Party for being willing to break barriers and speak to a lost generation of young people who are desperate for love and leadership.” This was an apparent reference for an ancient group of Jesus called hypocrites Jewish leaders.
