Former US vice president Mike Pence called on ex-president Donald Trump to apologise for having dinner with rapper Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — as well as a known white nationalist and anti-Semite.
Mr Pence said the former president had exercised “profoundly poor judgment” when hosting Ye and Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last week.
“President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an anti-Semite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologise for it,” Mr Pence said during an interview with NewsNation on Monday.
Mr Pence, who could challenge Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, said he does not believe the former president is a white nationalist or an anti-Semite, but said he “demonstrated profoundly poor judgment”.
Other prominent Republicans joined in criticising the former president.
Marco Rubio, a US senator from Florida, called Mr Fuentes “evil” and said the meeting with Mr Trump “legitimised” him.
Mr Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill that he had “no idea” how Mr Fuentes and Ye were permitted inside Mar-a-Lago.
Kanye West has been in the news after he made a series of anti-Semitic comments. Adidas has severed ties with the rapper. AP
West at the BET Awards 2022 in Los Angeles in June. Reuters
The rapper at the Givenchy spring/summer 2023 fashion show in Paris in October. AFP
West performs at Rolling Loud New York at Citi Field in September. Getty Images / AFP
With his former wife Kim Kardashian at the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards in 2019. AP
West on stage at the Coachella festival in California in 2019. AP
The rapper holds a rally for his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, in July 2020. Reuters
West wears a Make America Great Again cap to meet president Donald Trump in the White House in 2018. AFP
He watches basketball team the Golden State Warriors play the Boston Celtics in March. Photo: USA Today Sports
With Kim Kardashian and basketball player J Cole at the 69th NBA All-Star Game in Chicago in 2020. AFP
West and Julia Fox, who briefly dated him after his split with Kim Kardashian, at Paris Fashion Week. Getty Images
The rapper performs during the closing ceremony for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada. AFP
West and Kim Kardashian with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni in Entebbe. AP
He was a Trump supporter. AP
West on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Los Angeles. AP
He performs at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, in 2010. Rich-Joseph Facun / The National
Running for president in North Charleston. AP
West takes the mic from singer Taylor Swift as she accepts an MTV Video Music Award 2009. He said Beyonce should have won instead. AP Photo
The rapper with his mother Donda in 2007. Getty Images
He arrives for a benefit concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2016. EPA
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, said “there is no bottom to the degree to which president Trump will degrade himself and the nation”.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday that “there is just no place for these types of vile forces in our society”.
And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, called Mr Trump's dining with Mr Fuentes “disgusting and dangerous”.
“All should condemn him giving an anti-Semite even the smallest platform — much less a dinner audience,” he said.
Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier, holds a rally in Lansing, Michigan, in 2020. AP
The US Justice Department has described Mr Fuentes as a white supremacist and he attended a Trump rally on January 6, 2021, which preceded the attack on the US Capitol.
The Anti-Defamation League said Mr Fuentes once "'jokingly' denied the Holocaust and compared Jews burnt in concentration camps to cookies in an oven”.
Mr Trump said on Truth Social that he had met Ye to offer him business advice.
“We also discussed, to a lesser extent, politics, where I told him he should definitely not run for president,” he wrote.
The former president maintained that he did not know Mr Fuentes.
Supporters of former US president Donald Trump and America First ideology participate in Stop the Steal and Million Maga (Make America Great Again) March protests after the 2020 presidential election was called for Joe Biden. Reuters
A woman wears a jacket reading 'Maga King' at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas. Reuters
A new take on the red Maga hat seen at CPAC in Dallas. Reuters
Mr Trump tosses Maga hats to the crowd as he arrives for a Save America rally at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio. EPA
Maga Mall president Ronald Solomon sells merchandise at CPAC. Reuters
A liberal voter in Georgia said that Trump supporters have made it impossible to ever wear a red hat again. Reuters
A Trump supporter sells merchandise during the Save America rally at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe, Texas. Getty Images / AFP
During the 2016 presidential election, it was found that a large portion of Maga merchandise was made in China. Getty Images / AFP
Texans at the Save America rally earlier this year. Getty Images / AFP
Despite no evidence of fraud and Joe Biden's certification by Congress, Maga supporters still insist that Mr Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Reuters
Maga supporters in Scottsdale, Arizona, kit out their dogs. Reuters
People cheer at a Maga rally in Sarasota, Florida. Getty Images / AFP
The Republican Party of Florida co-sponsored this Maga rally last year. Getty Images / AFP
A woman wears a red Maga hat in Sarasota. Getty Images / AFP
For some, Maga isn't just a movement, it is a way of life. Getty Images / AFP
A Maga supporter speaks during a rally. Getty Images / AFP
A Trump supporters in Sarasota shows his Maga pride. Getty Images / AFP