Kanye West can no longer pay a notorious Holocaust denier from his old presidential account — for now

Rapper and former 2020 presidential Kanye West can no longer use surplus money from his old presidential campaign account to pay white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes for his services — at least temporarily.

The reason: West's campaign treasurer, Patrick Krason, has resigned, according to a letter Krason sent the Federal Election Commission.

By law, federal campaign committees must have a treasurer in order to raise and spend campaign cash. No treasurer, no campaign spending.

"My name is Patrick Krason and I have resigned as Treasurer of Kanye 2020 campaign committee (C00751701) effective 9:00am EDT Monday May 8, 2023," the letter reads. "I have notified the campaign of my resignation and they have been made aware of the requirement to name a new treasurer within 10 days. I have also made them aware that they cannot raise or spend campaign funds until a new treasurer has been named. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns."

Krason, as well as a representative for West, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kanye 2020, West's presidential committee, had almost $125,000 remaining in its account as of March 31, according to federal records. The committee paid Fuentes $30,000 during the first two months of this year for "archival services."

That's in addition to $14,719 in payments West's campaign made to Fuentes in late 2022. Of that amount, $9,026 was made on Nov. 22 and coincided with the date West and Fuentes dinedwith Donald Trump at the former president’s Florida home.

West unsuccessfully ran as an independent presidential candidate in 2020, failing to qualify for the ballot in most states and only receiving about 68,000 votes nationwide — fewer votes than the likes of Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins (about 403,000) and Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate Gloria La Riva (about 85,000).

He says he intends to run for president again in 2024 and has reportedly hired another right-wing provocateur, Milo Yiannopoulos, to lead his political operations. But to date, he has not formally registered to run again for president and has established no formal campaign operation.

West has made a string of antisemitic comments in recent years, including saying he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” In an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, he said, "I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis."

Fuentes is a white nationalist and conspiracy theorist who's called COVID-19 a "hoax" and called the attack on the U.S. Capitol and a racially motivated 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., "falseflag" operations.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23807636-kanye-2020-letter