Texas’ 3rd Special Session Kicks Off After Head of Conservative PAC Meets With Nick Fuentes

Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan in the House Chamber at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, on May 26, 2023. Eric Gay/AP Photo

The Texas Legislature’s third special legislative session kicked off with a dustup between the top Republican leaders in the House and Senate with accusations and calls for resignation.

On Monday, House Speaker Dade Phelan called on elected officials, specifically Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, to return monies received from a conservative political action committee after the PAC president allegedly met with Nicholas Fuentes.

“Accordingly, I call upon any elected official who has accepted political donations from Defend Texas Liberty PAC, or any of its affiliate organizations, to immediately redirect every single cent of those contributions to a charitable organization of his or her choice,” Mr. Phelan said in a statement on Monday.

“Furthermore, I call upon elected officials and candidates to state unequivocally that they will not accept further contributions, including in-kind contributions from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC. Recently, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took $3 million from this organization. I expect him to lead the way in redirecting these funds,” he continued.

Mr. Patrick fired back by calling for Mr. Phelan to resign immediately.

The latest saga is another chapter in the public battle between the two GOP leaders. It comes after The Texas Tribune reported on Sunday that Mr. Fuentes was seen at the private business owned by Defend Texas Liberty PAC President Jonathan Stickland on Friday, Oct. 6.

Earlier this year, Mr. Fuentes was suspended from multiple social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, for hate speech in 2020 and 2021. The 25-year-old has openly praised Adolf Hitler and made headlines in November 2022 when he dined with former President Donald Trump at his private club in Florida. Mr. Trump was having dinner with Kanye West, now called Ye, who brought Mr. Fuentes along as a guest, Reuters reported.

The Austin-based news outlet published a photo of Mr. Fuentes exiting Mr. Stickland’s Pale Horse Strategies consulting firm in Fort Worth.

“This is not just a casual misstep. It’s indicative of the moral, political rot that has been festering in a certain segment of our party for far too long. Anti-Semitism, bigotry, and Hitler apologists should find no sanctuary in the Republican party. Period. We cannot—and must not—tolerate the tacit endorsement of such vile ideologies,” Mr. Phelan said.

He accused members of the Republican party of joining the “likes of Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar in tearing down our Israeli allies.”

Mr. Phelan also called on “every single elected official or candidate” who has received money from Mr. Stickland’s PAC to “publicly disavow their toxic affiliation.”

The Senate leader issued his own statement, accusing Mr. Phelan of using the Hamas attack against Israel for his own personal political gain.

“I didn’t think even Dade Phelan would stoop this low. He has now absolutely hit rock bottom. His latest political stunt is disgusting, despicable, and disingenuous,” Mr. Patrick said. “With nearly 1,000 dead and over a hundred kidnapped, anyone who would use the war in Israel for their own political purposes is revolting, repulsive, and repugnant.

He denounced Mr. Fuentes and said there is no place for his “antisemitic rhetoric” in this nation.

“For anyone to try to use these invectives for their own political gain is below contempt,“ Mr. Patrick continued. ”I am calling on Dade Phelan to resign his position before the House gavels in this afternoon. There is no place in Texas political discourse for any elected official to use the atrocities in Israel for their own political gain. That’s what Dade Phelan is doing. At this point, he’s simply got to go.”

Mr. Patrick did not mention whether or not he would return the $3 million he

Defend Texas Liberty PAC issued a two-sentence statement on X later the same day.

“We reject Dada Phelan’s effort to combine Defend Liberty PAC with Nick Fuentes. We oppose Mr. Fuentes’ incendiary views,” the statement read.

In a separate post on X, Mr. Stickland called on Mr. Phelan to resign.

The Texas Tribune image also showed the president of Texans for Strong Borders, Chris Russo, a few steps behind Mr. Fuentes. The Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi was also photographed going into the building.

Mr. Fuentes was reportedly seen driving Mr. Russo to Pale Horse Strategies on Friday.

Mr. Russo did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for information.

On Sunday, Mr. Rinaldi told the Texas Tribune that he was borrowing a conference room for a meeting with Texas GOP Executive Director Jen Hall.

“I completely condemn that guy and everything he stands for,” Mr. Rinaldi told the outlet. “I would never in a million years meet with that guy.”

Meanwhile, Attorney General Ken Paxton said he is planning to file criminal charges against the House Managers who led his impeachment trial. Mr. Paxton has accused the 12 lawmakers of doing him by publicly releasing documents with his home address.

The attorney general, who was acquitted last month in a Senate trial, said his family has faced “multiple threats of violence.” He will pursue changes under a new Texas anti-doxing law that was passed during this year’s regular session and codified into law on Sept. 1.

Mr. Paxton has also called for Mr. Phelan’s resignation.