Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called some of his GOP colleagues "morons" on Sunday for attending an event in Florida over the weekend that allegedly had ties to white nationalism.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., both spoke at the far-right America First Political Action Conference in Orlando. The event was hosted by Nick Fuentes, who is labeled as a white supremacist by the Anti-Defamation League, and has recently expressed his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the military invasion of Ukraine.
Romney appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" with host Dana Bash and gave his thoughts on Greene and Gosar attending the event, saying that showing support for white nationalism is "simply wrong."
"Look, there is no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism. It's simply wrong ... it's evil as well," Romney said."(Rep.) Marjorie Taylor Greene and (Rep.) Paul Gosar, I don't know them, but I'm reminded of that old line from the 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' movie where - where one character says, 'Morons, I've got morons on my team.' And I have to think anybody that would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points."
Romney wasn't the only GOP leader to speak out about the event, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that, "there’s no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism."
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., tweeted about her fellow Republicans attending the "white supremacist, anti-Semetic, pro-Putin event."
"As Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling... All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now," Cheney tweeted.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., also both spoke out against antisemitism and those who attended the event.
“There’s no place in our party for any of this. ... The party should not be associated any time, any place with somebody who is antisemitic," McCarthy said to CNN reporters. "This is unacceptable."
“There’s no place in America for antisemitism, for hate speech and thought that any race is purer than any other,” Scalise told NBC News.
"It’s my understanding Marjorie had condemned the remarks that the leader of that group made, and obviously he made some statements that were racist and antisemitic," Scalise said. "We don’t condone those, and we reject it."
Greene defended her appearance at the event and tweeted a video speaking to reporters on Saturday, saying she doesn't know Fuentes or his beliefs. She captioned the video, "Since the media will lie about me, hear for yourself."
Romney also spoke to CNN about other GOP colleagues who have expressed their support of Russia and Putin, calling it "almost treasonous" and "disgusting."
"It's unthinkable to me, it's almost treasonous and it just makes me ill to see some of these people do that," Romney said. "But, of course, they do it because if they get shock value and it's good to get the more eyeballs and maybe make a little more money for them or their network. It's disgusting."
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