Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) spoke out against former President Donald Trump’s recent meeting with known anti-Semites, including one who is a Holocaust denier.
The remarks from the two leaders come after Trump hosted rapper Kanye “Ye” West, who has gone on multiple anti-Semitic tirades in recent months, last week for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. West brought white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes to the meeting and, according to West, Trump was “really impressed with Nick Fuentes.”
Trump has since issued several statements on the matter, claiming that he did not know who Fuentes was at the time, but he did not condemn Fuentes’ views, which the media has asked Republicans about in recent days.
“I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes,” McCarthy said in giving a forceful denouncement of Fuentes. “He has no place in this Republican Party.”
McCarthy noted the multiple statements that Trump has released on the matter and mistakenly said that Trump had condemned Fuentes’ views.
When a reporter had pointed out that Trump has not condemned Fuentes’ views, McCarthy responded, “Well I condemn his ideology, it has no place in society at all.”
“I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican Party…I condemn his ideology,” House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy says after former Pres. Trump’s dinner with the white nationalist. https://t.co/fh40NHXrBU pic.twitter.com/kvcfVsp0CM
— ABC News (@ABC) November 29, 2022
McConnell responded to the dinner by telling the media Tuesday afternoon, “There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy.”
“And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States,” McConnell added.
McConnell also wouldn't say whether he would support Donald Trump if the former president wins the Republican nomination in 2024. https://t.co/chpNbAZMn4
— POLITICO (@politico) November 29, 2022
Trump responded to McConnell’s remarks in an interview with Fox News by calling him “a loser for our nation and for the Republican Party.”
“I had never heard of the man — I had no idea what his views were, and they weren’t expressed at the table in our very quick dinner, or it wouldn’t have been accepted,” Trump said.
Trump said Democrats should “condemn Antifa.”
While Trump said that he wouldn’t have “accepted” Fuentes’ views, he did not explicitly condemn his views anywhere in the article and it’s not clear based on the article whether he was even asked if he condemned Fuentes’ views.
Trump did, however, tout his strong pro-Israel policies during his time as president.
“Nobody has to prove or be defensive of me and Israel,” Trump told said. “They have acknowledged that I’m the best friend and president to Israel. I gave them the embassy in Jerusalem.”
“From the historic Abraham Accords bringing peace to the Middle East, withdrawal from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, appointing a special envoy to combat the scourge of antisemitism, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, President Trump always has been and continues to be the closest friend and ally to the Jewish people and the state of Israel,” a Trump adviser added.
Related: Pence Calls On Trump To ‘Apologize For’ Dining With Holocaust Denier At Mar-A-Lago