Biden White House Denounces Trump's Dinner with White Supremacist and Kanye West: 'Repugnant and Dangerous'

People Staff
·3 min read
Former U.S. President Donald Trump; Kanye West attends the "The Greatest Lie Ever Sold" Premiere Screening
Former U.S. President Donald Trump; Kanye West attends the "The Greatest Lie Ever Sold" Premiere Screening

James Devaney/GC Images; Jason Davis/Getty Images

The Biden administration slammed Donald Trump days after the former president had a dinner at his members-only Mar-a-Lago club with Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, two controversial figures who have made a number of anti-semitic statements in recent weeks and months.

"Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America — including at Mar-A-Lago," Deputy White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. "Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned."

Biden, meanwhile, offered his own comment on the matter, telling reporters, "You don't want to hear what I think" when asked about the dinner last week, CBS News reported.

The statement came days after Trump, 75, had dinner with West and Fuentes in Palm Beach, with Axios citing a source who said "there was a lot of fawning back and forth" between the former president and Fuentes.

West, 45, has been mired in controversy for making antisemitic remarks and for allegedly exhibiting bullying and inappropriate behavior to former staff members at Adidas. In the wake of his antisemitic comments, dozens of companies — including Adidas — have cut ties with the rapper and designer.

Fuentes, meanwhile, is a 24-year-old livestreamer who has been labeled a "white supremacist" by the U.S. Justice Department. Fuentes made headlines in 2017 for attending the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. In February 2020, his YouTube channel was permanently suspended for violating the company's hate speech policy. He has since continued to spread Holocaust denialist and antisemitic views.

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Trump has issued a number of statements after the dinner — which took place last Tuesday — was first reported, saying he "knew nothing" about Fuentes, but has refused to repudiate the white supremacist or his views.

"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 wrote on his Truth Social platform Friday. "We 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."

Trump later revised his statement further, but still didn't repudiate Fuentes, writing on Saturday: "So I help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black, Ye (Kanye West), who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else, and who has always been good to me, by allowing his request for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, alone, so that I can give him very much needed 'advice'. "

RELATED: Donald Trump Officially Announces He Will Run for President in 2024

Trump continued: "He shows up with 3 people, two of which I didn't know, the other a political person who I haven't seen in years. I told him don't run for office, a total waste of time, can't win. Fake News went CRAZY!"

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As one longtime adviser to the former president described to NBC News, Trump's response to his dinner with West and Fuentes has been "a f---ing nightmare," particularly as Trump recently announced his candidacy for president in 2024.

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