Donald Trump defended his dinner with antisemitic rapper Kanye West and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes saying he hosted them at Mar-a-Lago out of generosity.
The 45th president said West has “always been very good” to him and believed the rapper “wanted advice”. West called him and asked if he could meet because he had a lot of problems, Mr Trump said.
“And I do that for people, sometimes at my own risk, I guess. But I do that for people,” the former president told New York Magazine.
“I like helping people that have difficulties in life. And I think, you know, from that standpoint, I did the right thing.”
Mr Trump added that he is “overly generous” and doesn’t think that’s a “bad thing”. “But sometimes it can make life a little bit more difficult,” he said.
“I am overly generous.”
The former president claimed he did not know the white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
“He brought some people that I didn’t — Nick Fuentes — who I didn’t know at all. We sat down, we had a very quick meal. It wasn’t two hours, as somebody said. It was a very quick meal, it went very fast. It was pleasant,” he said.
“There was nothing said of any great import. And that was the end of that. All of a sudden, the press made a fake story out of it.”
The infamous November dinner is believed to be the reason behind the growing distance between Mr Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump along with his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“I had dinner with a very troubled man who was asking for help, and I didn’t know his views on Israel because I don’t study Kanye,” Mr Trump contested. “I didn’t know that Kanye said anything negative about Israel because it’s not exactly something that I would be in a position to know.”
Ms Trump, who along with her husband was a senior White House adviser during the Trump administration, said she will remain out of politics to focus on business interests and family.
Mr Kushner has since reportedly refused requests to help his father-in-law as a series of controversies has plagued the nascent campaign.
