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British far-right activist Tommy Robinson was hosted at the US state department on Wednesday, as the Trump administration seeks to cultivate closer ties with conservative and far-right groups across Europe.
Robinson, who has a history of making incendiary remarks about Muslims and immigrants, was a guest of Joe Rittenhouse, a senior adviser in the state department’s bureau of consular affairs, which has played a key role in the administration’s crackdown on immigration.
“Honored to have free speech warrior @TRobinsonNewEra at Department of State today,” Rittenhouse wrote in a post on social media. “The World and the West is a better place when we fight for freedom of speech and no one has been on the front lines more than Tommy.”
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, confirmed the visit to the state department in his own post on X, saying he was in the US “making alliances & friendships”.
A state department spokesperson said: “Tommy Robinson visited the state department in an unofficial capacity on a tour today.”
While in Washington, Robinson also conducted an interview with Florida Republican congressman Randy Fine, in which the American politician railed against Islam and sharia law.
Robinson, who was denied a visa to go to the US in 2018, was previously imprisoned in the UK for using a passport in someone else’s name to travel to the US.
His visit to the state department comes as the Trump administration seeks to bolster its ties with anti-immigration advocates and far-right groups in Europe.
Donald Trump’s national security strategy, released last year, claimed Europe was at risk of “civilisational erasure” due to its migration policies and called for “cultivating resistance” within European nations.
The Trump administration has also lambasted the EU and the UK over attempts to regulate incendiary rhetoric online, interpreting it as an assault on freedom of speech which disproportionately affects US technology companies.
The FT reported this month that the state department was set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe to bolster Washington’s message on perceived attacks on freedom of speech.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has described himself as a free speech absolutist, has thrown his support behind Robinson, portraying him as a free speech campaigner.
Robinson last year said Musk had paid his legal fees as he went on trial accused of not giving the police his mobile phone pin when stopped under UK counterterrorism laws. Robinson, founder of the far-right English Defence League, was found not guilty at Westminster magistrates’ court.
Musk, who was an adviser to the Trump administration until he fell out with the president, spoke via video link at a rally organised by Robinson last year in London.
The entrepreneur called for the dissolution of the UK parliament and urged Britons to “fight back” or “die”.