Texas Speaker Phelan condemns Conservative leader's meeting with antisemite & Nazi supporter
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan sharply criticized a conservative group whose leader reportedly met with an avowed antisemite and Nazi sympathizer who has denied the Holocaust.
In a lengthy statement Monday, Phelan also called on Republican leaders who received money from the group to donate it to charity.
The Texas Tribune report said former Republican state lawmaker Jonathan Stickland of Tarrant County met for hours Friday with Nick Fuentes, an avowed Nazi sympathizer and antisemite.
Stickland, a political consultant, is also the president of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, which has contributed and loaned to campaigns of conservative officials, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The report also said Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi was in the same building Friday, but Rinaldi told CBS News Texas he didn't meet with Fuentes and had no idea he was there.
Defend Texas Liberty PAC has also sharply criticized and campaigned against Phelan, most recently for the House investigating and impeaching Paxton.
Phelan's statement Monday said in part, "This is not just a casual misstep. It's indicative of the moral, political rot that has been festering in a certain segment of our party for far too long. Antisemitism, bigotry and Hitler apologists should find no sanctuary in the Republican party. Period."
He then called on Patrick, the Texas GOP, and others who've received money from the PAC to donate it to charity.
The Lt. Governor responded in a statement, "Nick Fuentes and his antisemitic rhetoric have no place in the United States.. For anyone to try to use these invectives for their own political gain is below contempt. I am calling on Dade Phelan to resign his position before the House gavels in this afternoon."
Texas GOP Chair Rinaldi said in a statement, "We continue to stand against antisemites like Nick Fuentes and his repulsive, vile ideology, which have no place in the Republican Party or mainstream political discourse and those like Phelan that would use tragedies like the war in Israel to score cheap political points."
Defend Texas Liberty PAC responded, "We reject Speaker Phelan's effort to combine Defend Texas Liberty PAC with Nick Fuentes. We oppose Mr. Fuentes' incendiary views."
We are still trying to contact Jonathan Stickland.
The Director of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, Luke Macias, didn't return our call seeking comment.
The Lt. Governor called on Phelan to resign before the start of the third special legislative session Monday afternoon, but that didn't happen.
Phelan told reporters at the Capitol Monday afternoon he's not going anywhere and that he intends to run again for Speaker in January, 2025.
He is facing a primary challenge.
