Michelle Malkin receives media credentials for CPAC, despite being listed for alt-right conference

Right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin has received a media credential to cover the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) later this month, despite being a speaker at an event around the same time hosted by anti-Semitic and alt-right figures.

“I won’t be on stage at @CPAC this year, but I WILL be covering it on the ground. My media credential application just approved. Stay tuned. #AmericaFirst,” tweeted Malkin on Jan. 30.

“After covering @CPAC on Friday Feb. 28th, I will be speaking at the very first AFPAC-America First Political Action Conference in DC. It will be livestreamed. It’s time. #AmericaFirst,” she posted in a subsequent tweet with a picture with a picture with information on how to register for AFPAC.

CPAC will be held in Maryland on Feb. 26-29, while the inaugural America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) will be on that Friday evening.

“AFPAC, not @CPAC, will expose the truth about Beltway GOP/ConInc / #OpenBordersInc cancel culture against #AmericaFirst conservatives,” posted Malkin in the Twitter thread.

In addition to Malkin, AFPAC features anti-Semite and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes; Scott Greer, a former editor at The Daily Caller who wrote for the alt-right Radix Journal, founded by white supremacist Richard Spencer; and Patrick Casey, executive director of the white-nationalist group Identity Evropa.

The American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC, did not respond to a request for comment about Malkin receiving a press credential and being a featured speaker at AFPAC.

Malkin has expressed support for Fuentes and his followers, who call themselves “groypers”—a reference to the cartoon toad that is similar to the alt-right Pepe the Frog.

Fuentes and his followers have interrupted conservative events on college campuses, including ones hosted by the conservative Young America’s Foundation (YAF) and pro-Trump group Turning Point USA. The hecklers usually ask speakers about U.S. assistance for Israel and immigration as a way to push their anti-Semitic agenda into mainstream conservatism.

Malkin has praised Fuentes as “one of the New Right leaders.”

Fuentes has a history of both anti-Semitic remarks and social media posts.

YAF cut ties in November with Malkin as a member of the organization’s campus lecture program.

“YAF gives a platform to a broad range of speakers with a range of views within the mainstream of conservative thought. Immigration is a vital issue that deserves robust debate,” said the organization in a statement. “But there is no room in mainstream conservatism or at YAF for [H]olocaust deniers, white nationalists, street brawlers or racists.”

In response, Malkin tweeted, “The Keepers of the Gate have spoken. #AmericaFirst is not ‘mainstream.’ My defense of unjustly prosecuted Proud Boys, patriotic young nationalists/groypers & demographic truth-tellers must not be tolerated. SPLC [Southern Poverty Law Center] is cheering.”

“America First” is a motto echoed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The Proud Boys is a neo-fascist and violent group founded by anti-Semite Gavin McInnes. The SPLC has been accused of bias against conservatives.