(JTA) — A conservative Jewish columnist speaking at an influential annual conference for conservatives was booed and then provided protection after comments criticizing Republican Party “hypocrites” for ignoring sexual misconduct by the president of the United States.
Mona Charen, a senior fellow for the Ethics & Public Policy Center, spoke on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Washington, D.C., on a panel called “#UsToo: Left out by the Left.”
She called out conference participants for ignoring Donald Trump’s bragging about his sexual conquests, though she did not use his name, according to reports.
“I’m disappointed in people on our side for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women who are in our party, sitting in the White House, who brag about their extramarital affairs, who brag about mistreating women, and because he happens to have an ‘R’ by his name, we look the other way, we don’t complain,” Charen said.
Her statement came just before an annual straw poll of attendees found a 93 percent approval rating for Trump.
She also criticized the party for its support of Roy Moore.
“The Republican Party endorsed Roy Moore for the Senate in the state of Alabama, even though he was a credibly accused child molester,” she said. “You cannot claim that you stand for women and put up with that.”
Charen, whose columns are often pro-Israel, also criticized CPAC for inviting as a speaker far-right French politician Marion Marechal-Le Pen, granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece of National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
“The only reason she was here is she’s named Le Pen, and the Le Pen name is a disgrace. Her grandfather is a racist and Nazi. She claims she stands for him. The fact that CPAC invited her is a disgrace,” Charen said to booing.
She reportedly was escorted out of the conference center by three security guards for her own protection. Charen later wrote that the guards who escorted her out “seemed genuinely concerned for my safety.”
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