GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has faced pressure to condemn members of his caucus, most recently Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. McCarthy finally spoke out against Greene after she attended a white supremacist convention.
McCarthy condemned Greene’s attendance at the recent white supremacist event when a reporter asked the House Republican Leader if he still stood by Greene following her behavior. Arizona GOP Rep. Paul Gosar was also in attendance at the event.
“Last week I was just in Israel. When I come back I see two colleagues who went and participated with a group that has a leader that many times gave anti-Semitic views and led a chant for Putin. For me it was appalling and wrong,” said McCarthy.
Greene tried to explain that she was not aware that she was attending and speaking at a white supremacist conference. However, noting that the event’s host Nick Fuentes was a white supremacist, and his opening remarks that praised both dictators Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler should have been enough for Greene to refuse to speak.
McCarthy also said he will be meeting with Greene this week, but did not disclose whether he would reprimand Greene for her attendance at the event.
Despite McCarthy’s condemnation of Greene’s attendance at the white supremacist conference, New York progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the House Minority Leader of trying to cover up for Greene and Gosar’s racist behavior for years. Ocasio-Cortez called McCarthy’s condemnation of Greene “toothless” and said the California Republican has been “protecting his little KKK caucus for years.”
Ocasio-Cortez also pointed out that McCarthy had a chance to immediately condemn Gosar the first time he attended a white supremacist conference but did not do so until Gosar attended the racist event a second time.
“McCarthy stood on the House floor and passionately defended Rep. Gosar, who also headlined fundraisers for white nationalist orgs and escalated into inciting violence in the House,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez, referring to the animated video that Gosar shared on social media that showed him murdering her. “He made it fair game. It’s not an exaggeration in the slightest to say he works to protect them.”