- Former President Donald Trump spoke at a conference of Orthodox Jews on Friday.
- Conference attendees responded with multiple standing ovations, according to AP.
Former President Donald Trump received an overwhelmingly positive response at a conference of Orthodox Jews on Friday, despite failing to address a controversial dinner he shared last month with individuals who have spewed antisemitic hate, AP reported.
Attendees of the annual President's Conference of Torah Umesorah at Trump's National Doral resort in Miami, Florida, responded to his remarks with several standing ovations, according to AP.
Trump told attendees of the conference that he was the "best ally you've ever had," the news agency reported. The former president also repeatedly raised his support of Israel, claiming that Congress was "almost anti-Israel" and alleging that Democrats in Washington "hate Israel with a passion," per AP.
During his address to the Orthodox Jewish conference, Trump referencing his past remarks on antisemitism from his own 2019 State of the Union address led to standing ovations, according to AP.
"We must never ignore the vile poison of antisemitism or those who spread its venomous creed," he said, quoting himself, per the news agency.
Missing from his address to the conference was a reference to the now-infamous dinner he had last month with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Fuentes, who participated in the 2017 white supremacist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, hosts an online show called "America First with Nicholas Fuentes," where he has been known to make antisemitic comments. Trump claimed he "knew nothing about" Fuentes when he dined with him.
Ye, who was suspended from Twitter after posting a swastika inside a Star of David, praised Adolf Hitler during an appearance on Alex Jones' Infowars show earlier this month.
Several GOP figures condemned the meeting, including former Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence told News Nation host Leland Vittert: "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."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said at a news conference: "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 judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected President of the United States."
And Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, in a tweet, accused the former president of "hosting racist antisemites," which, he said, "encourages other racist antisemites."