Former President Donald Trump recently caught heat for having a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida with rapper Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist and Holocaust denier who was supposedly brought along unexpectedly with the rapper.
“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about,” Trump said Friday in a statement on his Truth Social platform.
“We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful,” Trump said. “They then left for the airport.”
On Saturday, Deputy White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates denounced the meeting. “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America – including at Mar-A-Lago,” he wrote. “Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.”
Trump has also received criticism from other Republicans, including former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
“This is just another example of an awful lack of judgement from Donald Trump, which, combined with his past poor judgements, make him an untenable general election candidate for the Republican Party in 2024,” said Christie.
James Comer, A Republican congressman from Kentucky also commented on the controversy.
“I would not take a meeting with that person,” he said. “I wouldn’t take a meeting with Kanye West, either.”
