CNN
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Former President Donald Trump hosted white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West at his Mar-a-Lago estate this week, suggesting he’s in for another White House bid Continue to be willing to associate with figures whose anti-Semitic views are widely publicized.
West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, tweeted a video Thursday in which he claimed Trump was “impressed” by Fuentes, who had repeatedly Make anti-Semitic and racist remarks, as documented by the Anti-Defamation League.
West said in the Twitter video that Fuentes was “actually a Trump loyalist,” unlike what he said were others who ditched the former president after the 2020 election.
In a text message conversation West posted Thursday, he and Fuentes said they both met with the former president. A source confirmed to CNN that Trump had dinner with Fuentes and West, who were embroiled in controversy after they repeated anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and made other offensive remarks during an October podcast appearance .
A source familiar with the dinner said Fuentes was Kanye’s guest and was not invited by the former president.
Trump acknowledged the dinner in a Truth Social post on Friday, saying: “Last week, Kanye West asked me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Not long after, He unexpectedly showed up with three friends I didn’t know. We had dinner in the backyard with many members on Tuesday night. The dinner was quick and peaceful. Then they headed off to the airport.”
Trump reiterated late on Friday that he “did not know” Fuentes and had given business and political advice to the West.
“I told him he should absolutely not be running for president, ‘Any voter you possibly have should vote for Trump,'” the former president wrote on Truth Social. “Anyway, we got along great, he didn’t show anti-Semitism, and I appreciate all the nice things he said to me on ‘Tucker Carlson.'”
The White House on Friday condemned Fuentes’ presence at Mar-a-Lago.
“Bigano, hatred, and anti-Semitism have absolutely no place in America — including at Mar-a-Lago. Denial of the Holocaust is repugnant and dangerous and must be strongly condemned,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates told USA Wired said in a statement to the television news network.
David Friedman, Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, also denounced the former president’s links to West and Fuentes.
“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even social visits from an anti-Semite like Kanye West and a scum like Nick Fuentes are unacceptable. I urge you to put those bums on Han out, deny them, throw them in the dustbin of history where they belong,” He said in two tweets Friday afternoon. “Anti-Semites should have no place in American leadership, right or left.”
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West’s recent anti-Semitic comments have led companies to which he works – including Adidas and Balenciaga – to cut ties with him. He has made many inflammatory statements over the years, including assertions that slavery was a “choice” and that “racism is an obsolete concept.”
The Anti-Defamation League has identified Fuentes as a white supremacist and has been banned from most major social media platforms for his white nationalist remarks. Appearing at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Fuentes pushed Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations of rigging the 2020 election. A House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 incident issued Fuentes a subpoena in January.
The west tweets He kept Trump waiting during his first visit to Mar-a-Lago late Tuesday night amid rain and traffic. Right-Wing Watch, a project of the left-leaning group People of the American Way, released footage Tuesday of West and Fuentes walking through the Miami airport together. The footage was included in a video West posted on Twitter.
This story has been updated with more information.
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