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The big headline this week has been the self-quarantining of some lawmakers who attended CPAC and came in contact with an聽attendee who later tested positive for COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, but King's presence was also notable. The congressman聽has come under fire many times聽for his comments regarding white nationalism and white supremacy 鈥� including a recent聽hourlong presentation on the House floor, where he claimed the terms 鈥渨hite nationalist鈥� and 鈥渨hite supremacist鈥� had become 鈥渨eaponized.鈥� King, who has spoken at CPAC on numerous occasions throughout the years, was聽absent from this year's聽conference聽programming.

But King鈥檚 remarks in an unofficial introduction at an official CPAC panel indicate he wasn't completely excluded.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, attends a news conference after being denied entrance to the deposition and access to the transcripts related to the House's impeachment inquiry in the Capitol Visitor Center, Oct. 16, 2019. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

King gave a five-minute introduction to a panel on freedom of speech, which Hatewatch attended Feb. 27. The discussion featured Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, an Austrian anti-Muslim activist convicted聽of hate speech in 2011; Clare Lopez of anti-Muslim hate group Center for Security Policy (CSP); Lathan Watts of the Texas-based, religious-freedom-focused nonprofit First Liberty Institute; and conservative radio host Todd Starnes. King, who has been acquainted with Sabaditsch-Wolff for years and who has spoken at CSP events (not to mention CSP head Frank Gaffney鈥檚 radio show) on a number of occasions, received a warm welcome from the audience. Afterwards, he took to the podium to decry 鈥渃ancel culture鈥� and the 鈥減olitically correct police.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 as happy to be a spectator as I am a speaker,鈥� King told the audience in one of the smaller rooms designated for breakout sessions at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. 鈥淭his place, and this entire hotel, is full of friends.鈥�

鈥淲e are a great big family of . . . constitutional, Christian conservatives,鈥� he said, looking around the room.

King blasted the 鈥減olitically correct police all over the planet鈥� for 鈥渄eciding what we can say . . . and . . . assigning us beliefs systems that they say we have because we are on the opposite side of them politically.鈥� He recommended that attendees familiarize themselves with Sabaditsch-Wolff鈥檚 work 鈥� as well as 鈥� 聽Douglas Murray鈥檚 2019 book, The Madness of Crowds 鈥� to better understand 鈥渨here our civilization will be in the next decade or two.鈥�

Then, without mentioning the specifics of his own previous comments on white nationalism, King relayed an interaction he had with an anonymous literary scholar. According to King, this same individual deduced that, of the dozen or so 鈥渢hings that [King] had been attacked for,鈥� all were based solely on 鈥渕isquotes鈥� and 鈥渕isinterpretations.鈥�

鈥淗e found that . . . [in each case] what I said was right . . . and just, and moral, and consistent with Western civilization鈥檚 values and American values,鈥� King told the crowd.

Though King declined to specify the content of the聽鈥渏ust鈥� and 鈥渕oral鈥� comments that had drawn the ire of the 鈥減olitically correct police,鈥� he was stripped of his committee assignments in early 2019, following an interview with The New York Times. In the interview, King 听迟丑别 Times, 鈥淲hite nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization 鈥� how did that language become offensive?鈥�

While he later walked back these statements, asserting that he 鈥渞eject[ed] those labels and the evil ideology they define,鈥� the comments came a mere few months after King found himself in hot water over an interview with the far-right Austrian site Unzensuriert (or 鈥淯ncensored鈥�). According to 聽from Christopher Mathias and Nick Robins-Early on聽HuffPost, the interview largely revolved around the racist conspiracy theory of the 鈥済reat replacement鈥� 鈥� a concept that has inspired several acts of white supremacist violence聽across the globe.

King鈥檚 endorsement of the 鈥済reat replacement鈥� may have been one of his more well-known appeals to white supremacist and white nationalist rhetoric, but it was far from his first. As Huffpost 聽in 2018, King鈥檚 racist rhetoric and engagement with white nationalist leaders internationally received little pushback from his fellow lawmakers for many years.

A panel with friends in high places

King聽was far from alone in bemoaning the聽pushback against his statements on white supremacy and Western civilization. Lopez decried the 鈥済reat purge鈥� of those warning about the dangers of so-called 鈥渞adical Islam鈥� that she claimed had supposedly begun under former President George W. Bush. Federal law enforcement agencies dropped anti-Muslim lectures and propaganda being used in official training materials after investigative reports brought them to light and pressure was applied by civil rights groups. Sabaditsch-Wolff, meanwhile, recounted听迟丑别 hate-speech trials she faced after stating during a talk organized by Austria鈥檚 far-right Freedom Party that the prophet Muhammad 鈥渆njoyed having something going on with kids.鈥�

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need concentration camps or gulags in Europe anymore. People just disappear,鈥� Sabaditsch-Wolff, who frequently tours the United States to warn conservatives about the supposed death of free speech in Europe, told an audience of around 40 CPAC attendees at her panel Thursday. She continued: 鈥淚鈥檓 unemployable. Not even McDonald鈥檚 will hire me.鈥�

鈥淯nemployable鈥� or not, Sabaditsch-Wolff wasn鈥檛 without an attentive audience. Photos published Feb. 28 at the far-right New English Review showed her meeting with King in his office on the Hill, along with an unnamed Austrian representative to the European Parliament. Another image depicts the Austrian anti-Muslim activist with Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, in his office. These meetings on the Hill were far from their first. King, for his part, hosted Sabaditsch-Wolff at his Conservative Opportunity Society 鈥� a group dedicated to restoring 鈥渢he pillars of American Exceptionalism.鈥� He, along with Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., and Gohmert, met Sabaditsch-Wolff in Vienna in 2014, where they reportedly said they were 鈥渁ppalled by the decision鈥� to uphold the anti-Muslim activist鈥檚 hate speech conviction.

It鈥檚 not surprising, then, that King and Sabaditsch-Wolff crossed paths at CPAC more than once. A photo taken by Mediaite reporter Zachary Petrizzo showed the pair outside the main hall amid a small pool of reporters.

But unlike his companion, CPAC preferred to ignore King. When questioned about King鈥檚 presence at the event, CPAC officials seemed eager to keep the lawmaker at an arm鈥檚 length, telling 聽that 鈥渁nyone can buy a ticket.鈥�