Former President Donald Trump unequivocally denounced Nick Fuentes as well as other antisemites in an interview exclusive to Breitbart News on Friday, stating that “nobody” who has “the wrong and ill will about people” can be found inside the America First movement or the Republican Party.
Trump had just made remarks for attendees of the Annual Orthodox Jewish gathering of the Torah Umesorah Presidents Conference at his Doral golf resort, and was seated for an intimate interview on Breitbart News following his speech.
When he began this interview, Breitbart News asked him as the head of the party and America First movement, whether the views of Fuentes can be considered a part of either the GOP or the America First movement.
“No, they don't,” Trump said in plain language.
Trump was under fire last month due to, just days leading up to Thanksgiving, dining with Juan Fuentes as well as Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago, located a few hours away from the town of West Palm Beach. West brought openly racist white supremacist Holocaust denier Fuentes along with Milo Yiannopoulos and former Trump adviser Karen Giorno to the dinner. Trump then issued an announcement that stated that he did not know who Fuentes was at the time West took him to dinner. He also clarified that the meeting with West was on West's behalf since the rapper has had many serious problems lately, with several major firms rescinding agreements with his company.
Trump's first statements shortly after the dinner, without a clear condemnation of antisemitism and racism and Holocaust deniers like Fuentes, caused the fury of many of his critics within the Republican Party, including ex-Vice President Mike Pence, who called for Trump to express his views more clearly and explicitly, as did other members of the party such as House as well as Senate GOP the leaders Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell.
Trump and West have been close friends for years, dating back many years before Trump was elected president, and that's the reason why despite the recent problems of West, Trump has always sought to aid one of his old friends. West had made several antisemitic remarks in the days prior to and after the evening dinner hosted by Trump.
Trump in the interview he gave to Breitbart News, elaborated on the details of what transpired to the media for the first time during an interview since events took place. In his comments, Trump made clear he did not realize until that evening that West himself had made a number of antisemitic remarks. Trump also took aim at journalists for the coverage they gave of the meal, saying that they “shouldn't have” made “a big deal over” the incident.
“Very importantly, I didn't know him [Fuentes] and I never heard of him,” Trump stated to Breitbart News. “Kanye–I knew Kanye. Kanye was extremely nice to me and extremely respectful of me. Kanye went to Tucker Carlson and said Trump is the most wonderful person and I'm the only person that he has mentioned. Therefore, Kanye called me, and said he required some assistance and advice. I was in agreement with that. He took a group of people. One of them was this particular man. What do I know about Kanye's opinions of the world? I haven't conducted research on Kanye. I did not conduct any research about his opinions of a particular race, a particular religion, or any other aspect. I believe it was a great meeting from a perspective of the discussions we had about many issues, but this was not even mentioned. This wasn't a topic or red flag issue. It was only about a couple of days later that he made certain antisemitic comments that were extremely negative. He didn't make any comments negative on anything related to antisemitism during the dinner. The meal was a short dinner. The dinner was fast and then they disappeared and I figured that was it. There were many others. A real estate professional as well as someone in politics that everyone knows, who are well-known and highly respected. The fake media made a huge issue over something which isn't the way it went.”
When asked again to confirm that Fuentes's views and those of anyone else advocating antisemitism, Holocaust denial or racism, do not belong within either the America First movement or the GOP, Trump stated it specifically that they don't.
“No They do not. Everyone who does this has a negative and unjust attitude towards individuals,” Trump said. “We do not want to create ill will. It was extremely unfairly covered. It was extremely, unfairly treated.”
