Minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy criticized white nationalist Nick Fuentes on Tuesday after he had dinner with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
“I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican Party,” McCarthy told White House reporters following a meeting with congressional leaders and President Joe Biden on government funding and other issues, Reuters reported. The GOP leader condemned Fuentes’ “ideology,” saying “it has no place in society.”
Although he does not believe Fuentes should be embraced by the GOP, he seemed to defend Trump stating, “He didn’t know who [Fuentes] was.” (RELATED: Fox Business Guest Claims Protests In China Are About More Than COVID, ‘They Are Calling For End To Communism’)
Don’t be fooled. Kevin McCarthy never criticized Trump for having dinner with Nick Fuentes. Instead, he repeated the Trump excuse that he didn’t know who he was, “I think President Trump came out four times and condemned him and didn’t know who he was.” pic.twitter.com/eZlrfoHhTn
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 29, 2022
Trump has faced a wave of criticism from within his own party after the Nov. 22 dinner where rapper Kanye “Ye” West invited Fuentes to meet Trump. West claimed on Tim Pool’s podcast Monday night that Trump had no idea who Fuentes was.
Both West and Fuentes have been criticized for their anti-Semitic statements. Both men left Pool’s podcast after he refused to name Jews as the reason for West’s financial plunge. “It is ‘them’ though, isn’t it?” Fuentes said, ostensibly referring to people of Jewish background.