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White Nationalist Richard Spencer Removed From CPAC

White nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday after holding an impromptu press conference with reporters.
Image: CPAC Conference in Maryland
epa05810683 White supremacist and alt-right leader Richard Spencer (C) talks to the media at the 44th Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, USA, 23 February 2017. US President Trump is expected to address the conference on 24 February. EPA/JIM LO SCALZOJIM LO SCALZO / EPA

White nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday after holding an impromptu press conference with reporters.

CPAC spokesman Ian Walters said Spencer purchased his ticket and that his money had been refunded. Walter called Spencer’s views “repugnant.”

Spencer popularized the term "alt-right" and has espoused racist and anti-Semitic views, calling for “peaceful ethnic cleansing.” A video of him yelling “hail Trump” and saluting attendees at a conference in Washington, D.C. shortly after President Donald Trump’s election went viral last year, though Spencer later claimed he was being “ironic.”

After being removed, Spencer told NBC News that he believes the attendees at CPAC don't want to hear from the older speakers and said younger conservatives want to hear from people like him. Spencer repeated that he believes that race plays a major role in identity and said that whites were becoming a persecuted minority in America.

"I think everyone — everyone recognizes that there has to be identity politics in the world, that white people defined the United States and we're now experiencing an increasing minority status," Spencer told NBC News.

Spencer denied playing a role inciting people who have defaced a Jewish cemetery and threatened Jewish community centers in recent days.

Spencer was ejected from CPAC just hours before Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, was set to appear onstage with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

American Conservative Union executive director Dan Schneider condemned Spencer without using his name during an appearance on MSNBC as Spencer was being escorted out. "They are not part of us," Schneider said. "They're anti-Semites, they are racists, they are sexists, they hate the Constitution, they hate free markets…they hate everything and they despise everything we believe in — they are not an extension of conservatism."