Paul Gosar is finally speaking out about that video he sent to a white nationalist-organized event. He’s blaming it on a staff error.
The Arizona Republican said he’s done with Nick Fuentes, the leader of America First Political Action Conference.
Gosar finally speaks: Rep. Paul Gosar is blaming his video appearance last month at a white nationalist-organized conference on his staff. The Arizona Republican also says he’s done with event organizer Nick Fuentes, a far-right fringe figure who’s trafficked in racist and antisemitic rhetoric.
Gosar’s denial — among the first public remarks he’s given on the matter — comes nearly a month after the furor over his appearance at Fuentes’ event consumed the House GOP. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Gosar both appeared at Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference. Greene spoke in person, while Gosar’s office sent in a video.
What he’s saying: “It wasn’t supposed to go to Nick’s group,” Gosar told POLITICO, noting that a staffer “misconstrued” directions from his chief of staff. The tape was intended to go to other groups as a general “welcome video,” he added.
“We’re kind of short-handed,” he said. “And there was miscommunication.”
Shrugging it off: He dismissed the idea that a video of him speaking constituted a form of involvement in the Fuentes-organized conference, which he spoke in person at in 2021.
The video “just basically said ‘welcome to the Miami area. Have a great conference. The United States is at a crisis point,’” Gosar said. He added that the groups “authorized” to receive the video included American Principles and Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), not America First.
(Both CPAC and America First took place in Orlando, not Miami.)
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Keep in mind: Gosar and Greene have lost the benefit of the doubt with many GOP colleagues this Congress, as some talk publicly and privately about how their Fuentes ties have hurt the party. So even fellow Republicans are likely to be skeptical about Gosar’s assertions that it was a staff error.
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Rep. Paul Gosar is finally speaking out about the video he sent to a white nationalist-organized event — and is blaming it on a staff error https://t.co/2OhL1dkfFi
— Congress Minutes (@politicongress) April 1, 2022
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