Washington: The top two Republicans in the US Congress have broken their silence about former president Donald Trump’s dinner last week with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, saying the their party has no place for anti-Semitism or white supremacy.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, who may become speaker of the US House of Representatives when Republicans take control in January, had not commented previously on the November 22 meeting.
Trump began his 2024 bid for the White House on November 15, and is Republican voters’ top choice, according to opinion polls.
“There is no room in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism 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 told reporters without mentioning Trump by name.
“That would apply to all of the leaders in the party who will be seeking offices,” McConnell added, when asked if he would support Trump should he become the party’s 2024 presidential nominee.
McCarthy was pressed for his thoughts on the Trump dinner by reporters at the White House, after talks with President Joe Biden.
“I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes,” said McCarthy, currently the House minority leader. “His views are nowhere within the Republican Party or within this country itself.”
Read the article by Steve Holland and David Morgan in The Sydney Morning Herald.