Liz Cheney calls on Republicans to be associated with a white nationalist event

“As Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, the silence from Republican Party leaders is deafening and empowering,” Cheney said. tweeted Saturday.

“All Americans should drop this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now,” she added.

Greene, a Republican from Georgia, spoke Friday at the America First political action conference in Orlando, Florida, an event founded by far-right activist Fuentes as an alternative to the annual political action conference Conservative, which is taking place this week. .

Gosar appeared at America’s first political action conference via pre-recorded video, The HuffPost reported. The Arizona Republican attended the same conference last year, and Cheney was the only House GOP executive to call him directly about it at the time.

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who like Cheney has been increasingly marginalized within the GOP after criticizing former President Donald Trump’s hold on the party, also made his criticism known, Tweeter Saturday to Greene, “If it wasn’t a weird world, you’d be the one censored and excommunicated from the GOP.”

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney backed Cheney’s remarks in a Sunday interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

“Liz Cheney was right with that statement and has been right for a long time,” the Republican senator said. “There is no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism. It is simply not true.”

Fuentes, labeled a white supremacist by the US Department of Justice and the Anti-Defamation Leaguewas banned from most major social media platforms for his white nationalist rhetoric.

After Russian forces invaded Ukraine this week, Fuentes wrote on the Telegram messaging app, “I totally support Russia,” while calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “my czar.”

And the Republican Jewish Coalition targeted Greene and Gosar for associating with Fuentes.

“It is appalling and outrageous for a member of Congress to share a platform with an individual who actively spewed anti-Semitic bile, mocked the Holocaust and promoted dangerous anti-Israel conspiracy theories,” the coalition said in a statement.

Greene, meanwhile, defended her attendance at the event.

“I’m not going to play the guilt-by-association game where you demand that every Tory justify everything someone they’ve ever shared a room with has ever said. I’m not going to get dragged into this. I am solely responsible for what I say,” she said in a statement on Saturday.

“Nor will I turn down the opportunity to speak to 1,200 young patriots from America First because of some inappropriate remarks from another speaker, however disreputable I find those remarks,” she added. .

She Recount to CPAC reporters on Saturday that she did not know Fuentes, or his opinions, and condemned Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.

Gosar and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Greene and Gosar have a history of promoting conspiracy theories and adopting inflammatory rhetoric. House Democrats voted last year to remove the two lawmakers from their committee assignments. Gosar was also officially censored by the House in November for posting a violent anime video showing him killing a Democratic House member.

Last year, Gosar refuse knowing of a fundraiser that Fuentes planned to organize for him.

Fuentes was also present on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and was subpoenaed by the House panel investigating the attack. He promoted unsubstantiated theories about fraud in the 2020 election.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the headlines for the America First Political Action Conference and the Conservative Political Action Conference.

CNN’s Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.