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GOP leaders condemn Greene, Gosar for attending white nationalist event

GOP leaders condemn Greene, Gosar for attending white nationalist event

Days after GOP Reps. Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared at an event organized by a white nationalist, Republican party leaders are condemning them for attending.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement Monday criticizing white supremacist hate.

“There’s no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism,” McConnell said in a statement first reported by Politico.

Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Monday afternoon that he found Greene and Gosar’s attendance “unacceptable.”

McCarthy suggested to reporters that he plans to speak with both Gosar and Greene later this week.

“To me, it was appalling and wrong,” McCarthy told reporters. “There’s no place in our party for any of this.”

“The party should not be associated any time any place with somebody who is anti-Semitic…This is unacceptable,” he added.

McCarthy was in Israel last week with a congressional delegation. He told Punchbowl News that the news of Greene and Gosar’s attendance was particularly upsetting because of his recent visit.

Greene and Gosar have both previously been stripped of their committee assignments for their egregious behavior.

McCarthy, however, has previously said he would restore their assignments if Republicans take back the House in November.

McCarthy told CNN and another reporter outside his office that even though Greene claimed not to know who the event organizer was “with that introduction, you should have walked off stage.”

Shortly before introducing Greene, Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist who organized the event, led participants in applause for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and chanted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name.

Republican Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, when asked about Greene’s behavior Monday, also condemned the event but stopped short of condemning her members.

“White supremacy. Neo Nazism, hate speech, and bigotry are disgusting. They have no place or home and our party.”

McDaniel didn’t say whether the party would take any further action against its members, such as censuring them. Instead, she said she “would let the process play out” and see if any members brought any censures forward at a party meeting in August.

The criticism follows recent comments by former President Donald Trump, who continues to praise Putin. During an interview with the conservative radio show “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” on Tuesday, Trump labeled Putin’s tactics “genius” and “savvy.” Trump ultimately slammed the invasion on Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference but called Putin “smart.”

Greene and Gosar’s appearance at the conference Friday night is now renewing calls for them to be reprimanded by fellow Republicans in Congress.

“In any other world, Greene speaking at a white supremacist conference where attendees have defended Vladimir Putin and praised Adolf Hitler would warrant expulsion from the caucus, to say nothing of her advocacy for violence and consistent anti-Semitism is disgusting,” Democratic National Committee spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.

Greene, however, has doubled down on her appearance.

“I won’t cancel others in the conservative movement, even if I find some of their statements tasteless, misguided or even repulsive at times. I encourage them to seek wisdom, and apologize to those who have been hurt by their words, as I’ve had to do,” she said. “Our faith calls for charity and forgiveness.”

“We’re not going to be deterred by journalists and Washington insiders who fear the name of Our Lord, and relentlessly attack those of us who proclaim His name. We know that Christ is our only judge,” she added.

Over the weekend, in addition to claiming she didn’t know who Fuentes was, Greene said she went to the event to reach his young audience and to discuss “American First” policies.

Last month, Fuentes was subpoenaed by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

ABC News’ Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

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Top GOP lawmaker won’t condemn calling events of Jan. 6 ‘legitimate political discourse’

Top GOP lawmaker won't condemn calling events of Jan. 6 'legitimate political discourse'

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, refused to condemn a censure resolution targeting two Republican colleagues, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, which ​included a statement suggesting that the events of Jan. 6 were “legitimate political discourse​.”

The RNC issued the formal censure for the lawmakers’ roles on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“My understanding is [the statement] pertains to the legitimate protesters that I saw that day,” McCaul told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday.

Raddatz pressed McCaul, noting that the “legitimate political discourse” line is still in the resolution, encompassing events that occurred throughout the entire day when some supporters of President Donald Trump assaulted the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Although McCaul steered clear of condoning any acts of violence or criminality that eventually led to hundreds of arrests, he remained unwilling to denounce his party’s resolution.

“I condemn the violence at the Capitol. And those who committed criminal offenses who were violent at the Capitol need to be prosecuted,” he said, adding, “And I’ve said that all along, that that needs to be addressed.”

Last November, the Texas congressman earned the endorsement of Trump heading into the 2022 midterm election cycle. McCaul had voted against the second impeachment of the former president in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot.

The lawmaker said he thinks there’s a view within the GOP that Democrats are “politicizing” and pursuing the “weaponization” of Jan. 6. but that “the truth needs to come out, you know, with respect to this.”

“Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line. They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol. That’s why Republican National Committee members and myself overwhelmingly support this resolution,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement after the vote.

Once more, Raddatz pressed: “I just want to ask you this again, do you stand by the RNC’s actions and statements?”

“As I understand it, they’re referring to the peaceful protesters when they said that. I do not agree with that statement if it’s applied to those who committed criminal offenses and violence to overtake our shrine of democracy,” McCaul qualified.

While McCaul would not say whether he agrees with the decision to censure his colleagues, he did encourage party unity.

“Should they have been censured?” Raddatz pressed.

“You know, that’s — that was a — I’m not a member of the RNC,” McCaul responded. “I wasn’t privy to the resolution.”

“I can tell you, from a messaging standpoint, the Republicans need to unify,” McCaul said, adding, “What are we going to do for the country to get the majority back in Congress? To get the White House back in 2024?”

On Thursday, the ranking Republican member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee moderated a classified briefing on Capitol Hill led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as Russia continues to build up its military presence around Ukraine.

“Did you come away thinking it was certain that Russia would invade?” Raddatz asked.

“You know, I would say, the conditions are there,” McCaul said. “It’s more likely than not. I think the noose is being prepared. It’s around Ukraine right now as we speak.”

President Joe Biden ordered 3,00 U.S. troop deployments to Eastern Europe on Wednesday to reassure NATO allies amid the standoff with Russia over Ukraine.

But McCaul criticized the Biden administration’s approach, saying he believes an invasion of Ukraine “emboldens and it empowers Putin” and that the U.S. isn’t doing an adequate job of deterring such a move.

“The deterrence has not been there and deterrence is key,” McCaul said.

McCaul said he is working with a bipartisan group of senators that appears to be closing in on a deal that would impose crippling sanctions on Russia for its hostilities against Ukraine.

“I’m working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a bill that we hope to get out this week that will stand up the deterrence where the administration has failed to provide not only the lethal aid to Ukraine but also the sanctions necessary, devastating sanctions, including Nord Stream 2. That is the biggest leverage — that energy pipeline that President Biden gave him in Europe,” McCaul said.

“How does this end? If — if they invade and you put those sanctions on, how does he respond?” Raddatz asked. “Where does this go from here? And you have a huge refugee crisis.”

McCaul responded that “at the end of the day” we’re going to see a “resistance movement in Ukraine.”

“That’s why we’re sending them sniper rifles, ammunition. Remember, the majority of Ukraine is not pro-Russia anymore. Unlike before Crimea, they don’t like Russia, and there’s a resistance movement there,” McCaul said.