The Florida Republican Social gathering paid 1000’s of {dollars} over the summer season to a far-right activist who attended the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 and later charged at a crowd of anti-racist demonstrators with a Accomplice flag.
Christopher Monzon was paid greater than $10,000 by the occasion between June and September, federal campaign finance records show. Neither Monzon nor the Florida GOP responded to HuffPost’s request for remark concerning the funds.
Monzon was within the information Monday after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted that “one in every of our canvassers” had been attacked in Hialeah — a conservative and predominantly Cuban-American metropolis in Miami-Dade County — “by 4 animals who informed him Republicans weren’t allowed of their neighborhood.” A number of distinguished Republicans rapidly latched onto the story, together with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who tweeted, “Violence has NO PLACE in politics.”
A police report confirmed an assault had taken place. Nevertheless, it listed solely two perpetrators, one in every of whom was arrested, and didn’t point out any potential political motivation. A Hialeah Police Division spokesperson told Local 10 News, Miami’s ABC affiliate, that there was “no indication” as of Monday afternoon that the assault was politically motivated.
In response to the police report, which cites the sufferer’s statements, Javier Jesus Lopez, 25, slammed a person to the bottom and punched him within the face after confronting him for passing out fliers within the neighborhood.
An anti-fascist Twitter account, Miami In opposition to Fascism, first said it had identified the alleged sufferer as Monzon, and the Miami New Occasions confirmed his identity a couple of hours later. Rubio’s marketing campaign subsequently told The Miami Herald that Monzon was canvassing for the Republican Social gathering of Florida, not the senator’s marketing campaign.
The New Occasions reported that it tried to interview Monzon within the hospital with the approval of the hospital’s media division, however that it was unable to take action as a result of “former and present members of the Vice Metropolis Proud Boys have been on the hospital and refused to grant entry to the room.”
Federal marketing campaign finance records show seven bimonthly funds of $1,483.34, labeled “payroll,” have been made to Monzon between June 29 and Sept. 30, as have been two different funds totaling $115.56 for “journey & meals – GOTV,” doubtless a reference to “get out the vote” efforts.
The deal with listed for the 5 most up-to-date funds matches the deal with Monzon used on native marketing campaign finance filings when he unsuccessfully ran for Hialeah Metropolis Council in 2021.
A video from the lethal 2017 rally in Charlottesville exhibits Monzon sporting a T-shirt for the white supremacist group League of the South. “I intend to face for the South and die for it if want be,” Monzon says in a Southern drawl. Within the video, he’s sporting a helmet and holding a flag bearing each the Accomplice stars and bars and the League of the South’s black cross image.
“They won’t exchange us,” Monzon says — a reference to the “nice substitute principle,” the fascist and anti-Semitic perception that Jews are importing immigrants into Europe and North America to be able to hasten the top of the white race.
Monzon made his assertion close to a statue of Accomplice Gen. Robert E. Lee whereas standing amongst members of the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazi Nationwide Socialist Motion and the “alt-right” group Identification Evropa in what amounted to the most important white supremacist gathering in a technology.
He and his fellow rally attendees terrorized Charlottesville for 2 days, chanting “Jews won’t exchange us” and attacking counter-demonstrators. Ultimately, a neo-Nazi named James Alex Fields Jr. drove his automotive into a gaggle of counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
Like Monzon, some white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville finally discovered entrée to GOP circles. In Washington state, James Allsup was elected to a county Republican committee (and was later pushed out). In Idaho, a county Republican committee endorsed Dave Reilly, who as soon as stated “all Jews are harmful,” for an area faculty board seat. And earlier this 12 months, white nationalist Nick Fuentes hosted a conference that drew distinguished Republican audio system together with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
A couple of days after the Charlottesville rally, Monzon was arrested in Hollywood, Florida, after he charged a crowd of demonstrators who’d gathered to advocate for altering road names that honored Accomplice generals. Monzon briefly wielded what gave the impression to be the identical flag he had in Charlottesville like a spear earlier than being tackled by police, video showed. He finally pleaded no contest to an aggravated assault cost and was positioned on probation.
Monzon, who has known as himself the “Cuban Accomplice,” is a well known far-right activist in Florida, posting about native politics on social media and reportedly serving as vice chairman of the Miami Springs Republican Membership. The group didn’t reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
Monzon has made some try to distance himself from the racist proper, telling The New York Times earlier this 12 months that he’d been on a “path to de-radicalization.” However he additionally informed the paper that Proud Boys within the Miami-Dade space appeared to him for help as they made inroads within the native GOP equipment.
“I’ve at all times been generally known as the novel one, so that they have been like, ‘Yeah, man, we’re going to get extra of our individuals in right here,’” he informed the paper.
A few of his social media posts from 2017 present Monzon, who usually glided by the pseudonym Chris Cedeno, being explicitly racist and anti-Semitic. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Monzon as soon as posted a hyperlink to an anti-Black tune known as “Keep Away From Dixie.”
“Right here’s to all of the filthy n****rs on the market,” Monzon wrote.
“Soiled n****rs love abusing energy,” learn one other put up by Monzon, according to The Daily Dot. “That’s why in n****r run international locations there are at all times dictators.”
“Too dangerous Jews resolve our international coverage,” learn one other.