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Former President Donald Trump's dinner with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has espoused anti-Semitic views, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes has continued to stir controversy.
Here’s a rundown of the ongoing fallout as well as other news and developments ahead of the 2024 campaign:
About that dinner: NBC News’ Marc Caputo has the backstory on how Trump’s controversial dinner with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes came together.
The fallout: The dinner sparked criticism from other Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who said Tuesday, “There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy. And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.” Trump responded to McConnell in an interview with Fox News, calling the Senate leader, “a loser for our nation and for the Republican Party,” and claiming he was not aware of Fuentes’ views.
GOP primary watch: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley again signaled Tuesday that she’s considering running for president, despite saying last year that she wouldn’t run if Trump was in the race. Haley said at a Turning Point USA event, “We are taking the holidays to kind of look at what the situation is. If we decide to get into it, we’ll put 1,000% in, and we’ll finish it,” per the Associated Press.
Toomey’s take: Retiring Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., told NBC10’s Lauren Mayk that he won’t support Trump for president again, calling Trump a “very, very badly flawed individual.” Toomey was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Biden’s charm offensive: The White House is ramping up its courtship of Democratic donors ahead of a potential Biden re-election campaign, NBC News’ Natasha Korecki, Peter Nicholas and Jonathan Allen report. And Nicholas writes from Bay City, Mich., that Biden “sounded every bit like a president hungering for another term” during a Tuesday speech in the battleground state focused on manufacturing.
No regrets: Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who is up for re-election in 2024, wrote in a Washington Examiner op-ed that he has no regrets about releasing his 11-point policy plan, which drew bipartisan criticism. He also noted his unsuccessful run for GOP leader, writing, “My effort to change the way the Senate operates is not over. In fact, it is just beginning.”
WV-GOV: GOP state Del. Moore Capito, the son of GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, announced Tuesday that he’s running for governor. Republican Gov. Jim Justice is term limited.