NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Former President Donald Trump is renewing attention to his long history of turning a blind eye to bigotry after dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West just days into his third campaign for the White House.
Trump had dinner Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago club with West, who is now known as Ye, as well as Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.
Ye, who says he, too, is running for president in 2024, has made his own , leading to his suspension from social media platforms, and The sportswear manufacturer has also into his conduct.
In a statement from the White House, spokesman Andrew Bates said: 鈥淏igotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America 鈥 including at Mar-A-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned."
Trump, in a series of statements Friday, said he had 鈥渘ever met and knew nothing about鈥 Fuentes before he arrived with Ye at his club. But Trump also did not acknowledge Fuentes' racist and antisemitic remarks, nor did he denounce either man鈥檚 defamatory statements.
Trump wrote of Ye on his social media platform that "we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on 鈥楾ucker Carlson.鈥欌 He added, 鈥淲hy wouldn鈥檛 I agree to meet?鈥
The former president has a long history of failing to unequivocally condemn hate speech. During his 2016 campaign, Trump waffled when the KKK after he was endorsed by the group's former leader, saying in a televised interview that he didn't 鈥渒now anything about David Duke." In 2017, in the aftermath of Trump was widely criticized for saying there was 鈥渂lame on both sides" for the violence. And his rallies frequently feature inflammatory rhetoric from figures like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who spoke earlier this year at a far-right conference organized by Fuentes.
The latest episode, coming just one week after Trump launched his third run for the Republican nomination, also underscored how loosely controlled access to the former president remained, particularly .
Trump's Mar-a-Lago club came under intense scrutiny amid revelations that Trump was there 鈥 sparking a federal investigation. But the club 鈥 and the people it gave access to Trump 鈥 had long been a source of consternation among former White House aides.
Mar-a-Lago is not only Trump鈥檚 home, but also a private club and event space. Paid members and their guests dine alongside him and often mingle with him; members of the public can book weddings, fundraisers and other events, and Trump often drops by.
Ye first shared details of the dinner in a video he posted to his Twitter account Thursday. Ye said he had traveled to Florida to ask Trump to be his 2024 running mate, and that the meeting had grown heated, with Trump 鈥減erturbed鈥 by his request and Ye angered by Trump's criticism of his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.
鈥淲hen Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was gonna lose. I mean, has that ever worked for anyone in history, telling Ye that I鈥檓 going to lose?鈥 Ye asked in the video. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking to Ye!"
Ye also said Trump was "really impressed with Nick Fuentes,鈥 whom he described as 鈥渁ctually a loyalist鈥 and said he'd asked Trump, 鈥淲hy when you had the chance did you not free the January 6th-ers?鈥 referring to the defendants who were alleged to have participated in the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump released a series of statements Friday trying to explain the circumstances of the meeting.
鈥淜anye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about," Trump said in his first statement released by his campaign.
Not long after, Trump took to his social media network to say that Ye and 鈥渢hree of his friends, whom I knew nothing about鈥 had 鈥渦nexpectedly showed up鈥 at his club.
鈥淲e had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport,鈥 he wrote.
Hours later he again posted, saying he had told Ye that he 鈥渟hould definitely not run for President,鈥 and that 鈥渁ny voters you may have should vote for TRUMP.鈥
鈥淎nyway, we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on 鈥楾ucker Carlson.鈥欌 he added. "Why wouldn鈥檛 I agree to meet? Also, I didn鈥檛 know Nick Fuentes.鈥
Fuentes, meanwhile, said after the trip that, while he couldn't rule out that Trump had heard of him, 鈥淚 don't think he knew that I was me at the dinner."
鈥淚 didn't mean for my statements and my whole background to sort of become a public relations problem for the president," he added on his show.
The meeting drew immediate criticism from Trump critics as well as some supporters, including David Friedman, who served as Trump鈥檚 ambassador to Israel.
鈥淭o my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable," Friedman wrote in a tweet. 鈥淚 urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.鈥
On Saturday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a potential 2024 rival, also denounced antisemitism, without directly referencing the dinner or the president under whom he served.
鈥淎nti-Semitism is a cancer," Pompeo wrote, adding: "We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world鈥檚 oldest bigotry.鈥
Biden, asked about the Trump dinner meeting while vacationing in Nantucket, Massachusetts, replied, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to hear what I think."
