Representative Gosar slammed for apparent intention to organize fundraiser with white supremacist

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Democrats, including Representative Ted Lieu of California, have called on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to take action regarding Gosars’ ties to Fuentes.

Dear @GOPLeader: Rep Gosar is a white nationalist like former Rep Steve King except Rep King didn’t allow an insurgency either. When will you remove Representative Gosar from House committees? Lieu tweeted on Tuesday.

But Gosar also faces criticism from at least one member of his own party. Former Representative Denver Riggleman of Virginia, a former Trump-endorsed Air Force intelligence officer who lost his re-election campaign in a May primary after performing a same-sex marriage, denounced the event on Monday in a tweet.

Riggleman, sharing a screenshot of the invitation to the event on Twitter, called it a dangerous time.

Current member of Congress to raise funds with AFPAC. This is where we are. And he sits on committees.

This is from a Telegram channel linked to Nick Fuentes. Telegram is a plot and a white nationalist fantasy land where Gosar is evidently suspended.

A dangerous time. pic.twitter.com/KNFe8otj31

– Denver Riggleman (@RepRiggleman) June 29, 2021

Gosar later returned to his Tweet in an interview with CNN, telling reporter Manu Raju he had no idea what was going on and said no fundraising was planned for Friday. An email sent to the Gosars campaign was not immediately resent.

According to Business Insider, the digital event flyer, which states that a date and time will be announced on July 1, aired on America First on Telegram, a chat app with encryption features that has become popular with white supremacists who have been launched platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The leaflet urges participants to donate online at the Gosars WinRed online fundraising site.

Fuentes, a podcaster who briefly attended Boston University but left after attending the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina, frequently espoused white supremacist views, according to the Anti -Defamation League and other groups. Prior to the attack on the United States Capitol, Fuentes advocated violence against state lawmakers, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Gosar has often been criticized for his own views, most recently for describing the Jan.6 Capitol attackers as peaceful patriots after being among those who led efforts to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. .

Christina Prignano can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.

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