Former President Donald Trump ignited a firestorm of controversy when he took a dinner meeting at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida, with Kanye "Ye" West, a far-right rapper who subsequently professed admiration for Adolf Hitler, and Nick Fuentes, a neo-Nazi livestreamer who has called for creating a white, Christian theocracy that strips Jews of political power.
What has been less widely reported is that there was actually a fourth person at that meeting — and the Huffington Post got in touch with him to get his account of what happened.
"NBC News reported only that the other person in Ye’s group was the parent of a student at Donda Academy, the rapper’s private school in California," reported Matt Shuham. "But while speaking about the dinner this week, Ye briefly referred to a man named Jamar Montgomery during a livestream with far-right influencer Tim Pool. Ye identified him as a 'Boeing engineer.'"
"HuffPost tracked Montgomery down and spoke with him Thursday night," said the report. "He is indeed a Boeing employee, though he did not confirm any connection with Donda Academy. Montgomery told a wild tale about how an invitation from Ye, whom he says he barely knew, quickly led to a dinner with the former leader of the free world. Montgomery shared some details from the evening, including some insight into why a mysterious phone call suddenly darkened Trump’s mood, after which he began treating Ye with open hostility."
Montgomery, who told HuffPost he is appalled at Fuentes' views and "fight[s] Nazis" as a civil rights activist, said Ye got in touch with him to discuss education, as he works as a tutor, and the whole thing rapidly escalated: "Montgomery flew from California to Florida, where Karen Giorno, an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, drove the crew to Trump’s resort and home. A campaign adviser for Ye’s 2024 presidential bid, far-right influencer Milo Yiannopoulos, organized the dinner but did not attend, Montgomery said. 'Next thing you know, we’re having dinner on the patio at Mar-a-Lago.'"
According to Montgomery, Trump was "very excited" to see Ye, while Fuentes was "fawning over Trump and some of his speeches," but then, "All of the sudden, he gets a phone call, and the whole mood switches." In the subsequent InfoWars show where Ye praised Hitler, Fuentes claimed that this call came from Ye's lawyer Nick Gravantes, telling Trump the dinner was a "set up," although Gravantes denies any such conversation took place.