Republican Congressman Matt Rosendale poses with neo-Nazis

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) apparently thought nothing of the man’s Nazi-style gray trench coat and Hitler Youth haircut.

A smiling Rosendale posed for a photo outside the US Capitol last week alongside two well-known white supremacists: Ryan Sanchez, a former member of the violent neo-Nazi street gang Rise Above Movement who was dressed similarly to a German officer of World War II, and Greyson. Arnold, a pro-Nazi blogger.

“Just met Congressman @mattformontana, a true America First representative with a backbone,” Arnold wrote on an Instagram account. mail.

Freelance journalist Vishal Singh first drew attention to the photo of destination on his own Instagram.

“These are not mere far-right activists,” Singh wrote in the caption of the photo. “These men support active calls for genocide against LGBTQ+, Black, and Jewish people in the United States. Why are Republicans meeting neo-Nazis without a mask?

Instagram: @american_greyson

Rosendale’s office told HuffPost that the men had approached the congressman as he was returning to the House from a joint hearing on veterans’ affairs, and that neither he nor his staff knew who they were.

“I absolutely condemn and have zero tolerance for hate groups, hate speech and violence,” Rosendale said in an emailed statement. “I did not meet with these people; I was asked for a photo as I walked through hearings, accommodating as I do all photo requests, and I was unaware of the identity or affiliation of people with these hate groups that are in total opposition. contrast with my personal beliefs.”

This is not the first time that Rosendale, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump who is rumored to be seeking another run against Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in 2024, has come under fire for mixing with far-right extremists. . .

In 2014, he spoke at an Oath Keepers pro-gun rally in Kalispell, Montana. Footage from that event shows Rosendale, then a state senator, standing at a microphone behind a large black and yellow Oath Keepers banner. The anti-government militia group has a long history of violence, including the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Several members of the group, including founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, have been sentenced of seditious conspiracy for his role in the attack.

“I have no connection to Oath Keepers, and one event that I spoke at in 2014 was in Kalispell, and it was for the Second Amendment, to support the Second Amendment.” rosendale told NBC Montana shortly after the inauguration of President Joe Biden. “I have no affiliation with them, I have no communication with them, but I do support the Second Amendment.”

Notably, Rosendale was among the 147 Republicans who voted against certifying Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. He later voted against creating a select committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection and awarding Congressional Gold Medals to fallen Capitol Police officers, including two who died as a result of the attack.

Sanchez has ties to multiple white supremacist groups. She was a member of the RAM, a group known for the violence its members inflicted on counter-protesters at the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Sánchez has claimed that his membership in RAM led to his being discharged from the US Marine Corps, according to Left Coast Right Watchan investigative news outlet.

He was also allegedly a member of Identity Evropa, a since-disbanded white supremacist group that had a large presence at the Charlottesville rally. The group practiced “entrism,” which the Institute for Human Rights Research and Education describes as the strategy of “earning a place in the most important organizations by tempering the appearance and expressed values ​​to further the goals of the movement.”

Sanchez is a practitioner of entryism and has attempted to break into the MAGA movement, speaking at “Stop the Steal” election denial rallies in California in 2020 and later joining the People’s Convoy, a caravan of truckers protesting policies related to COVID. .

And this past November, Sánchez was a guest on the pro-Trump One America News Network, where he spoke in defense of a white supremacist sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the January 6 insurrection.

Arnold has also dabbled in conservative spaces. He had a senior Oregon Republican official on his podcast and briefly job for the Washington State Republican Party.

On his Instagram account, Arnold has posted photos of himself with numerous Republican figures in recent months, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Rep. marjorie taylor greene (Ga.) and far-right Arizona State Sen. Wendy Rogers.

like cnn reported, Arnold has called for killing refugees and undocumented immigrants. He is also a Nazi sympathizer, once stating that Adolf Hitler was “a complicated historical figure that many people misunderstand”.

HuffPost spotted Sanchez and Arnold on Saturday in the lobby of the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, where this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference was taking place.

A video aware The Twitter account of photojournalist Zach Roberts shows that both Sánchez and Arnold arrived at the CPAC, the annual gathering that attracts prominent Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates, which was abundant with election deniers and anti-trans bigotry this year.

“Dress to Impress, Man” Sanchez said when Roberts he asked about her attire, including the Nazi-style coat.

On Saturday night, Sánchez and Arnold attended a rally that Nick Fuentes, the fiercely racist and anti-Semitic leader of the America First movement who had been expelled from the CPAC the day before, organized inside a Marriott hotel across the street from the conference center. His supporters, who call themselves “groypers,” called a HuffPost reporter a “f***t” and prevented him from covering the rally, threatening to call hotel security.

A video of Fuentes’s speech shows that he expressed his support for CPAC speaker Michael Knowles, who earlier in the day had called for “transgenderism” to be “completely eradicated from public life.”

But Fuentes said he also wanted to eradicate other -isms.

“This is the one who hates Jesus and the world. … The other thing that has to disappear from public life at the highest levels is this Talmudic Judaism,” he said.

Sources previously aligned with prominent figures within the Republican Partyand he hosted a conference last year where Greene was the featured speaker. However, Republican officials eventually denounced him after he was hired by rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to run his often anti-Semitic presidential campaign.

In addition to appearing alongside leaders of the neo-Nazi movement last week, Rosendale received the “True Blue” award from the political arm of the right-wing Family Research Council, an award given to members of Congress “whose voting records perfectly upheld the values.” . of faith, family and freedom”.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Family Research Council as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

in a mail Taking to Twitter, Rosendale said he was “honored” to receive the award, saying he would “always fight for Montana values ​​in Washington.”