Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker backs out of Marjorie Taylor Greene rally after she spoke at white nationalist conference

• Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker backed out of an event featuring Greene, per the AJC.

• Walker's campaign said he wouldn't attend an upcoming rally in Rome, Georgia.

• The move comes as GOP leaders reject any ties between party members and white nationalist figures.

Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker on Tuesday backed out of an upcoming event organized by conservative Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the aftermath of her appearance at a white nationalist rally where attendees cheered Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Walker — the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock's seat — was slated to speak at the congresswoman's "Second Amendment and Freedom Rally" in Rome on Saturday.

Other planned guests include Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, former Georgia senator and current gubernatorial candidate David Perdue, and other individuals with ties to far-right organizations, The AJC reported.

However, Walker's campaign told the newspaper that he wouldn't attend the rally, which will focus on access to guns throughout the state.

Walker's move come as other Republicans across the country, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have rejected the influence of white supremacist organizations within the party.

"There's no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism," McConnell said in a statement on Monday after being asked by a reporter about the appearances.

But the Republican leader — who endorsed Walker's Senate bid last year — did not mention any lawmakers by name.

McCarthy, who has been criticized by many for failing to rein in Greene following earlier controversies over her comparison of mask mandates to the Holocaust, said that it was "unacceptable" for Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar to speak at the America First Political Action Conference in Florida this past weekend.

One of the event's organizers was Nick Fuentes, who has a history of making racist and antisemitic remarks.

Last year, Gosar was also a speaker at the America First conference, where Fuentes spoke of a desire to shield "the white demographic core." And this year, Fuentes called on attendees to give a "round of applause for Russia" as Putin escalates his invasion of Ukraine.

The House Republican leader — who is angling to become House Speaker after the midterm elections — reiterated that white nationalist ideology is unwelcome in the party.

"For me it was appalling and wrong. And there's no place in our party for any of this," said McCarthy. "The party should not be associated any time any place with somebody who is anti-Semitic."

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, on Sunday criticized both Greene and Gosar.

"Morons. I have morons on my team," he said of the two lawmakers. "And I have to think anybody that would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points."

In Georgia, where Greene represents a congressional district anchored in the northwest corner of the state, her appearance at the pro-Putin event was slammed by several GOP leaders — including one of Walker's opponents.

Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who has spoken out against the influence of former President Donald Trump within the party, on Monday rejected any praise of Putin.

"Vladimir Putin is a selfish, brutal dictator and anybody who would tell you otherwise is lying," he said in the chamber of the Georgia Senate at the state Capitol in Atlanta. "I call on this country, I call on this state, I call on this chamber to stand in support of the Ukrainian country as they fight for freedom."

And state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, who's facing off against Walker in the Senate race, called Greene's worldview "poison."

"Her ideas, her associations and her utter lack of wisdom and judgment are a poison in the bloodstream of our party," he told the Journal-Constitution. "I believe this behavior is a distraction and an embarrassment."

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