Republican congressional leaders criticize Trump for antisemitic dinner guests

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Republican congressional leadership criticized former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday for meeting with a white supremacist and antisemitic.

"There is simply no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy, and that would apply to all of the leaders in the party who will be seeking offices," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at a news conference.

When asked if he would back Trump in 2024, McConnell said: “Anyone meeting with people advocating that (antisemitic) point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”

House of Representatives Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy also denounced the former president

“I don’t think anybody should have a meeting with Nick Fuentes,” he said. "He has no place in this Republican Party.”

But McCarthy claimed that Trump did not know who Fuentes was, adding that the former president “came out four times and condemned him.”

Trump on Nov. 22 hosted Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West who has made openly antisemitic statements on social media, including threatening "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE" in a tweet that prompted the suspension of his account, an action reversed by Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

Trump also hosted Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and vocal antisemite, at a dinner last week. Trump has since said he did not know who Fuentes was at the time of their meeting but did not repudiate him.