2024 presidential rivals and GOP leaders condemn Trump for dining with white supremacist Nick Fuentes

• Several top Republican officials have condemned Trump for meeting with white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
• Trump recently had dinner with Fuentes and Ye, who has also made anti-Semitic comments.

Several GOP leaders, including some potential 2024 rivals, are explicitly condemning embattled former President Donald Trump for meeting with Nick Fuentes, who is widely known as a white supremacist and anti-Semite.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is eyeing a 2024 run, called on Trump to apologize for his actions. Even though Pence and Trump have a virtually non-existent relationship following January 6, Pence has sparingly criticized the former president.

"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 apologize for it," Pence told News Nation host Leland Vittert on Monday.

Trump has claimed that he has no idea who Fuentes was. He has claimed that he tried to give advice to the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who was also at the dinner. Ye has made a number of antisemitic comments in recent months, which led multiple companies, including Adidas, to break ties with him. The trio had dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort last week.

"Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was asking me for advice concerning some of his difficulties, in particular having to do with his business. We also discussed, to a lesser extent, politics, where I told him he should definitely not run for President ...," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump added that West "expressed no anti-Semitism" during the dinner.

Fuentes, a 24-year-old widely known as a white nationalist, has a long history of blatantly racist and anti-Semitic comments. Far-right Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona spoke at a conference of a Fuentes-founded organization prompting uproar among lawmakers. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called their attendance "unacceptable."

Here's the list of Republicans who have condemned Trump thus far:

Former Vice President Mike Pence:

Trump's two-time former running mate turned 2024 rival said the former president made a terrible mistake here.

"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 apologize for it," Pence told News Nation host Leland Vittert on Monday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky:

"There is no room in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy. And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgement, are highly unlikely to ever be elected President of the United States," McConnell said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican:

"Well, that's just a bad idea on every level," Thune told NBC News. "I don't know who is—who's advising him on his staff, but I hope that whoever that person was got fired."

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana:

"President Trump hosting racist antisemites for dinner encourages other racist antisemites," Cassidy wrote on Twitter. "These attitudes are immoral and should not be entertained. This is not the Republican Party."

Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio:

"It was wrong & inappropriate to have that meeting, white supremacy has no place in our nation's culture & it's antithetical to anything we stand for as Americans," Portman told reporters, per NBC News. Portman is retiring and will be replaced by author JD Vance, Trump's hand-picked successor for the seat.

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel:

Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel did not mention Trump specifically while rejecting Fuentes' ideology. "As I had repeatedly said, white supremacy, neo-Nazism, hate speech and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party," she said in a prepared statement.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the current head of the Senate GOP's campaign arm:

Scott, who is reportedly eyeing a 2024 campaign, did not mention Trump directly. "There's no room in the Republican Party for white supremacist anti semitism, so it's wrong," Scott told reporters, per NBC News.

Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, the soon-to-be head of the Senate GOP's campaign arm:

Sen. Steve Daines, who will join the party's leadership, did not mention Trump specifically in his comments to reporters. "We cannot tolerate antisemitism, period," Daines said, per NBC News.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson:

"I don't think it's a good idea for a leader that's setting an example for the country or the party to meet with [an] avowed racist or antisemite," Hutchinson told CNN on Sunday. Hutchinson, a two-term governor who will soon be leaving office. He has said he is "very seriously" considering a 2024 presidential campaign.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie:

"This is just another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump, which, combined with his past poor judgments, make him an untenable general election candidate for the Republican Party in 2024," the one-time Trump ally and likely 2024 presidential contender told The New York Times.

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming:

"First, @RepMTG and now, @realDonaldTrump hanging around with this anti-Semitic, pro-Putin, white supremacist. This isn't complicated. It's indefensible," Cheney, the top Republican on the House January 6 committee, wrote on Twitter. Cheney ran for re-election, but lost her Wyoming seat to attorney Harriet Hageman, a Trump-endorsed newcomer.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois:

"The brown shirts shouldn't intimidate you," Kinzinger, the only other Republican on the January 6 committee, wrote on Twitter. "They are all incels with no self esteem. Hey @GOPLeader, @RepMTG had spent some time with Nick here, how does that sit with you? You cool with holocaust denial etc? Probably right?" Kinzinger is retiring at the end of the current congressional session.