Trump Says He 'Knew Nothing About' Holocaust Denier Who Dined With Him

Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that he "knew nothing about" Nick Fuentes, the Holocaust denier and white nationalist who he recently had dinner with at Mar-a-Lago.

"This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago," the former president wrote on Truth Social. "Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about. We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport."

Embattled rapper Kanye West, who legally changed his name to Ye, has told a slightly different version of the story. He said in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday that Trump had been "really impressed" with Fuentes.

"And Nick Fuentes, unlike so many of the lawyers and so many people that he was left with on his 2020 campaign, he's actually a loyalist," West said.

Both Trump and Ye have recently announced their respective plans to run for president in 2024. Ye said in his video that Trump was "perturbed" after the rapper asked him to be his vice presidential running mate.

West also stated in the video clip that Trump was caught "off guard" by the fact that he'd come into the Florida meeting "with intelligence."

The controversial hip-hop icon has come under fire in recent weeks after making a string of anti-Black and antisemitic statements. His Twitter profile was locked in October after he made a post saying that he wanted to go "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE."

The rapper's recently announced campaign worker, alt-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos, has also been accused of antisemitism in the past.

West and Fuentes were recorded walking together at the airport in Miami on Tuesday. Later that day, West tweeted that he couldn't "believe I kept President Trump waiting" during his trip to Mar-a-Lago.

Fuentes gained notoriety after he attended 2017's deadly "unite the right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He hosts the live stream show America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes, which has a "cult-like following," according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). His followers are called "Groypers" or the "Groyper Army."

Groypers "regularly confront mainstream conservative organizations like Turning Point USA (TPUSA) for failing to promote a truly 'America First' agenda and for not being adequately 'pro white,'" according to the ADL.

Once, during a live stream, Fuentes compared the mass genocide carried out during the Holocaust to the act of baking cookies in an oven.

The ADL and Southern Poverty Law Center have both penned lengthy watchdog blog posts about Fuentes. The far-right provocateur has long been an ardent Trump supporter and promoted the false narrative that widespread fraud plagued the 2020 presidential election.

Newsweek reached out to representatives for Trump for comment.