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Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Marjorie Taylor Greene is facing calls to expel her from U.S. Congress after she attended a white nationalist conference in Florida on Friday. Greene was pictured shaking hands with Nick Fuentes, who has been labeled a white supremacist and antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, at the third annual America First Political Action Conference in Orlando.
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During her speech, Greene told the white nationalists gathered at the event that they had a "responsibility to fight for our Constitution," according to HuffPost.
Greene faced swift backlash for attending the white nationalist event and defended her appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which is also being held in Orlando.
"I do not know Nick Fuentes. I've never heard him speak," Greene said in a video from CPAC the congresswoman posted to Twitter, despite having been introduced by Fuentes at the AFPAC conference.
"I don't know what his views are, so I'm not aligned with anything that may be controversial. I can tell you I went to his event last night to address his very large following because that is a young, very young, following and a generation I am extremely concerned about."
Fuentes has long been a controversial figure on the far-right after attending the deadly Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Fuentes had said that the rally would unleash "a tidal wave of white identity."
He was also recently subpoenaed by the January 6 committee for calling "to continue occupying the Capitol until the election results were overturned" while attending the Capitol insurrection.
During the Friday event, Fuentes was filmed commenting about comparisons of Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler while expressing support for the Russian president and the invasion of Ukraine.
"Now they're going on about Russia and Vladimir Putin is Hitler. They say that's not a good thing," Fuentes said. "I shouldn't have said that!"
Greene faced widespread condemnation for her attendance at the white supremacist conference on Friday, including from fellow Republican Liz Cheney.
"As Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling," Cheney said.
"All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now."
Democratic National Committee spokesperson Ammar Moussa noted in a statement Saturday that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has done little to nothing to reprimand Greene for her prior controversies.
"In any other world, Greene speaking at a white supremacist conference where attendees have defended Vladimir Putin and praised Adolf Hitler would warrant expulsion from the caucus," Moussa said.
"To say nothing of her advocacy for violence and consistent anti-Semitism is disgusting. Quite simply, the longer Kevin McCarthy gives Marjorie Taylor Greene an unfettered platform and promises to elevate her -- the more complicit he is."
In her CPAC speech, Greene called for conservatives "to hold Democrats accountable" and called for an investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton," according to The Guardian.
"I'm also not going to turn down the opportunity to speak to 1,200 young America First patriots because of a few off-color remarks by another speaker, even if I find those remarks unsavory," Greene tweeted Saturday.
I want to embrace the young, boisterous and energetic conservatives in our movement -- not cancel them like the establishment does."
