The executive director of a white nationalist group on Wednesday tweeted pictures of himself posing outside the White House.
Asked about the pictures, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told TPM in an email: “He was one of more than twenty-five thousand people who came to the White House Fall Garden Tour, which is open to the public. Free tickets are made available to anyone who wants to attend.”
This year, the White House held its fall garden tours on Oct. 20 and 21. Casey subsequently confirmed Wednesday that he took the pictures “during a tour.”
I'm in D.C. for the day – I think I'll stop by the White House to pay my respects.
— Patrick Casey (@PatrickCaseyIE) November 7, 2018
Evropa has landed at the White House! pic.twitter.com/nlExBhNP4V
— Patrick Casey (@PatrickCaseyIE) November 7, 2018
Identity Evropa is known for its efforts to recruit students to the white nationalist cause. The group was founded by Nathan Damigo, who helped organize the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last year at which one counter-protester was killed by a neo-Nazi.
Damigo is also known for crashing a public film project created in 2017 by the actor Shia LeBeouf. “Shia LeBeouf, you will not replace us with your globalism!” Damigo said, as the event was being live-streamed on the internet. The chants “You will not replace us” and “Jews will not replace us” later became perhaps the most memorable audio from the Charlottesville rally.
Casey works for Red Ice, the white nationalist YouTube channel and website. In September, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) retweeted the white nationalist Lana Lokteff, a Red Ice host who is married to the platform’s founder, Henrik Palmgren. Casey was the subject of an NBC News profile just last month.
One current Identity Evropa member, former Washington State University College Republicans president and local Washington state GOP official James Allsup, once spoke at a Trump rally during the 2016 presidential campaign. He also attended the Charlottesville rally with Identity Evropa.
Earlier this year, as NBC News noted, Allsup addressed Identity Europa’s national conference and celebrated President Donald Trump’s contention that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the Charlottesville rally.
“We were defended by the President of the United States because he knew that our ideas are, in fact, normal,” Allsup said.
This post has been updated.
H/t Jared Holt
Spearheading the brownshirt recruiting drive.
I doubt he jumped the gate. They let him in.
Next time, the pictures will be from the Oval Office with Trump in attendance while this clown sits at his desk. Anything for the base, right?
He was on a VIP Tour, a thank you for the group’s unflagging support.
Evropa? Clearly this guy is a foreign agent.
Old Navy adage: "If there’s trouble on the deck, look to the bridge."