House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday refused an on-camera chance to condemn a pair of far-right lawmakers for their weekend participation in a white nationalist conference in Florida, where Russian President Vladimir Putin was a celebrated figure.
A day earlier, in the private halls of the Capitol, the Republican leader told a pair of reporters it was “unacceptable” that Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) made appearances at the America First Political Action Conference organized by white nationalist Nick Fuentes three days earlier.
But with the cameras rolling at a House GOP leadership press conference Tuesday, McCarthy refused to engage in discussion about rebuking Greene and Gosar any further.
“I’ve already commented on that,” McCarthy said, before quickly pivoting to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Moments later, McCarthy abruptly ended a small press gaggle in the hallway outside the press conference as soon as the reporter questions shifted from Ukraine to whether Greene and Gosar belonged in the House GOP conference.
“I answered that yesterday,” McCarthy said and walked away.
McCarthy’s reticence blunted his condemnations of a day earlier, suggesting there’s little appetite among GOP leaders to take on the far-right wing of the party, even those who dabble in race-based extremism. It also highlights the delicate line McCarthy is walking as he seeks to win control of the House in November and seize the Speaker’s gavel next year — an objective that will require him to keep the favor of former President Trump.
On one hand, GOP leaders want to keep the focus on the policies of President Biden, whose approval numbers are underwater amid a spike in inflation, a surge in migrants at the southern border and an escalating crisis in Ukraine, where Russian forces are inching closer to Kyiv. On the other, Republicans want to tap into the energy of their conservative base voters who are animated by the culture war agenda that thrust Trump into the White House in 2016 and won him more than 70 million votes in 2020.
It was that platform of cultural grievance that took center stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend — and at the America First event that’s generated the latest controversy for McCarthy and Republicans.
Yet McCarthy still faced pressure to speak out publicly to rein in the more controversial elements of his conference, after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel distanced themselves in recent days.
McCarthy told the two reporters in the Capitol on Monday evening that he planned to speak with Greene and Gosar about their participation in the conference.
“There’s no place in our party for any of this,” he said.
Yet Greene and Gosar remain, without any formal sanction from GOP leaders.
By contrast, the Arizona state Senate voted Tuesday to censure Republican state Sen. Wendy Rogers for participating in Fuentes’s event. Eleven Republicans approved of the historic reprimand.
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NEW: McCarthy won't condemn Greene, Gosar with cameras rolling https://t.co/OUWWw4qfNd pic.twitter.com/Ne6GC839ZX
— The Hill (@thehill) March 2, 2022
Reporter: "Can you please respond to Marjorie Taylor Greene attending the White nationalist conference over the weekend?"@GOPLeader: "I understand your job. I understand what you're trying to do. I've already commented on that." https://t.co/Aw2wfTRhZf pic.twitter.com/jEbwzcSQWA
— The Hill (@thehill) March 2, 2022
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