Vice President Vance met Friday with a frontrunner of the far-right Different für Deutschland (AfD) celebration, making him the highest-ranking U.S. official to take action.
The vice chairman met with Alice Weidel, head of AfD, on the sidelines of the Munich Safety Convention, an official with Vance’s workplace stated. Vance met with all leaders of main German political events throughout his week in Europe, the official stated.
Vance additionally met Friday with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democratic Occasion of Germany and Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. He met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier within the week in Paris.
The conferences came about forward of Germany’s nationwide elections, that are scheduled for Feb. 23.
Vance spoke to the pinnacle of AfD on the heels of his speech in Munich during which he accused European leaders of censoring free speech and admonished them for marginalizing populist events.
“To many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old, entrenched interests hiding behind Soviet-era words like ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way or, even worse, win an election,” Vance stated.
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and prime adviser to President Trump, has drawn backlash for his assist of AfD.
Musk final month appeared nearly at a rally for AfD and urged attendees to not be ashamed of their nation’s historical past. The German authorities has accused Musk of meddling within the nation’s elections.
Musk beforehand penned an op-ed expressing assist for AfD, which Vance later shared on social media. Vance stated on the time he was not endorsing the celebration.
