House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is speaking out against two Republican lawmakers who spoke at a White nationalist conference.
CNN noted Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) spoke at the America First Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Friday. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) appeared via a pre-recorded video, per the HuffPost.
Far-right activist Nick Fuentes founded the event.
“Last week, I was just in Israel. … And then when I come back, I see two colleagues, who went and participated with a group that has a leader that many times gives you anti-Semitic views, led a chant for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. To me, it was appalling and wrong,” McCarthy told CNN.
He added, “There’s no place in our party for any of this.”
McCarthy said the party “should not be associated, any time, any place, with somebody who is anti-Semitic.”
The House minority leader went on to call it “unacceptable.”
He was not the only one to voice his opposition to Greene and Gosar’s decision to speak at the conference.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, “There’s no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism.”
Greene reacted to the criticism she received in a statement, as CBS News reported.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m speaking to Democrat union members or 1,200 young conservatives who feel cast aside and marginalized by society,” Greene said.
She continued, “The Pharisees in the Republican Party may attack me for being willing to break barriers and speak to a lost generation of young people who are desperate for love and leadership.”
Greene told the outlet on Saturday she was not aware of Fuentes’ views.
“It wasn’t an alignment. It was to talk about getting everyone together to save our country,” she said.