Kanye West releases 2024 campaign video after meeting with Trump
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Leading Republicans have declined to criticise Donald Trump directly after he confirmed meeting at Mar-a-Lago with antisemitic rapper Kanye West, aka Ye, and his associate Nick Fuentes, one of the US’s most notorious white supremacist activists.
The former president has sharply criticised Mr West and ramped up his efforts to distance himself from their recent meeting, in which the disgraced artist apparently told Mr Trump he was running for president in 2024.
Mr Trump issued a statement via Truth Social calling the rapper a “seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black” and once again denied knowing Mr Fuentes, the white nationalist and racist who latched on to Mr West amid his increasingly erratic spiral into hate speech and the utter destruction of his musical career.
Meanwhile, Ye has continued to spread his version of the dinner, claiming that Donald Trump shouted at him in response to a proposal that the former president join Mr West as running mate.
One report says that Mr Trump ignored the pleas of his advisers to condemn Mr Fuentes.
Report says Trump ignored pleas from advisers to condemn Nick Fuentes after Kanye West meeting
Donald Trump’s political bruising in response to his meeting with one of America’s most prominent racists only grew worse due to his unwillingness to take advice from his own advisers and condemn the man’s views, according to a new report.
John Bowden has the details.
Oliver O’Connell28 November 2022 19:15
Louisiana senator denounces Trump for hosting ‘racist antisemites’
Bill Cassidy, Republican senator for Louisiana, has denounced former president Donald Trump for hosting “racist antisemites” at dinner describing their attitudes as “immoral” and saying that “this is not the Republican Party”.
Oliver O’Connell28 November 2022 18:57
Kellyanne Conway meets with January 6 committee
Former White House aide Kellyanne Conway will undergo questioning from the House select committee investigating the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, NBC News reports.
Eric Garcia reports from Washington, DC.
Oliver O’Connell28 November 2022 18:30
Watch: Kellyanne Conway arrives to meet with Jan 6 committee
Oliver O’Connell28 November 2022 18:00
Catch up: Trump’s racist hangout at Mar-a-Lago
If you’re just tuning into the story of Donald Trump’s meeting with two avowed racists at Mar-a-Lago, Joe Sommerlad has this explainer.
To recap: Mr Trump is in hot water for sitting down to dinner with the increasingly wayward Kanye West and the rapper’s “campaign adviser” Nick Fuentes.
Mr West, an acclaimed rapper now going by the name Ye, who recently torpedoed his music career by launching into a string of bizarre antisemitic rants on social media, causing his commercial sponsors to desert him in droves, has previously sought out Mr Trump at Trump Tower in New York City and at the White House during his presidency on a whim.
Now plotting a hopelessly unlikely presidential run in 2024 – theoretically pitching him against Mr Trump – West again sought out the one-term president and former luxury real estate magnate, this time for advice on that project.
They sat down to dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday 22 November with another man in attendance, the notorious white nationalist and Holocaust-denier Mr Fuentes, whom Mr Trump has subsequently claimed not to have previously known or recognised.
Read more below.
Andrew Naughtie28 November 2022 17:30
Why Senators haven’t been asked about the Trump-Fuentes encounter
Much is being made of the fact that more Republican senators haven’t spoken out about Donald Trump’s decision to meet with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, but ther e may in fact be a relatively mundane reason for their near-silence:
One person who hasn’t spoken up despite being constantly in the public eye is Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker, whom Mr Trump endorsed early in his campaign. Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, however, has issued some strong words:
Andrew Naughtie28 November 2022 17:00
Kellyanne Conway meets with Jan 6 panel
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reports that even as the January 6 select committee wraps up its work in preparation for releasing a final report, a core member of the Trump administration’s inner circle has been seen heading in for a meeting with investigators…
Andrew Naughtie28 November 2022 16:30
Analysis: Why many Republicans still won’t condemn Trump over Fuentes
In today’s Inside Washington dispatch, Eric Garcia takes a look at the fact that even after he met with two avowed antisemites and racists, Donald Trump is still able to escape the public condemnation of his party’s top figures:
As we’ve explained before here at Inside Washington, the truth is that Mr McCarthy needs Ms Greene’s support if he wants to become Speaker of the House. That’s why he’s kept her close instead of ostracizing her. If he becomes speaker – for now still a matter of “if”, rather than “when” – he will spend much of his time trying to keep her, Mr Gosar and fellow travelers like Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs and Matt Gaetz happy, lest they lead a right-wing rebellion to depose him.
When the House returns later this week, don’t expect Mr McCarthy to denounce former president Donald Trump for his dinner with Mr Fuentes and Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, now known for his antisemitic rants.
Read the article below.
Andrew Naughtie28 November 2022 16:00
Georgia Senate runoff: Warnock ad shows voters reacting to Walker
Donald Trump’s chosen Georgia Senate nominee, Herschel Walker, is having a hard time making up ground in his runoff race against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock – largely because of things he himself has said and done.
The litany of bizarre Walker speeches and statements is so long that Mr Warnock’s campaign has issued a closing ad that simply shows voters reacting to the Republican candidate’s words. As one woman puts it: “Not only does it make no sense, I don’t even understand what he thinks he’s saying.”
Andrew Naughtie28 November 2022 15:30
Greene: Trumps are “sick” at treatment of Jan 6 defendants
Marjorie Taylor Greene has long made avenging the supposed ill treatment of accused January 6 rioters something of a personal crusade, and she continues to bang the “Justice for J6” drum – but in an interview with Steve Bannon this weekend, she let Donald Trump off the hook for not issuing a mass pardon.
“The very idea that he could have pardoned all the Jan. 6 defendants before he left the White House on Jan. 20 is impossible because the high majority of those people weren’t even arrested until after he left office!” she told the far-right podcaster and agitator, who has been sentenced to jail for refusing to testify to the January 6 select committee.
Eric Garcia reports.
Andrew Naughtie28 November 2022 15:00
