Federal building balks at request to host Richard Spencer, white nationalist conference

A white nationalist conference slated to take place near both the White House and Trump International Hotel this month may have to find another venue after a D.C. federal building refused to accommodate Richard Spencer and his National Policy Institute think tank.

Mr. Spencer had planned to host his group’s annual conference at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on November 19, but he’s reconsidering his options after the building’s property manager reject the group’s request over security concerns, The Washington Post first reported Thursday, Nov. 2.

“We have never and would never decline a meeting on the basis of the content of the speech,” said Debra Cope, a spokeswoman for CommCore Consulting, a crisis-management firm hired by Reagan building’s property manager, The Post reported. “But we concluded it would be difficult, if not impossible, to secure the safety of everyone, including participants in the meeting.”

As with previous rejections, Mr. Spencer told The Washington Times he’s weighing whether to sue.

“We are certainly considering legal action,” Mr. Spencer, 39, told The Washington Times early Thursday afternoon. “This is clearly a First Amendment issue,” he said.

The National Policy Institute has held events in the past at the Reagan building and had been in communication for months concerning the Nov. 19 date, the Post reported.

The Reagan building is located within sight of the White House and just up the street from President Trump’s Pennsylvania Avenue hotel. It is owned by the General Services Administration, an independent agency of the federal government.

The venue hosts hundreds of events each year arranged through Trade Center Management Associates, a private sector building management and hospitality provider, and was the site of National Policy Institute’s annual conference in Nov. 2016 when attendees notably reacted to Mr. Spencer’s keynote address with Nazi-like salutes.

Considered a leading figure of the “alt-right” movement, Mr. Spencer more recently participated in the “Unite the Right” rally this past August in Charlottesville, Virginia. Initially billed as a protest against the city’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a downtown park, “Unite the Right” infamously descended into chaos when participants including neo-Nazis and white supremacists violently clashed when counterprotesters before the rally ever began, spurring Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to declare a state of emergency consequently canceling the event’s festivities including Mr. Spencer’s headlining address.

Police have since connected “Unite the Right” to the deaths of two law enforcement officers and a counterprotester, giving cause for several colleges to reject requests to host speaking engagements featuring Mr. Spencer over safety concerns and spurring legal threats and lawsuits.

The University of Florida initially refused to host an event feature Mr. Spencer but relented amid legal pressure and let him speak on its Gainesville campus last month, notwithstanding security concerns raised by administrators and local and state authorities fearing violent protests. Officials ultimately spent upwards of $500,000 on security for the event, and police arrested a total of five people in connection with his appearance, including three men charged with attempted homicide over a shooting that happened shortly after Mr. Spencer’s address concluded.

An attorney for Mr. Spencer’s booking agent has since filed federal lawsuits against both Ohio State University and Penn State University for blocking similar speaking engagements and is currently weighing potential legal action against the University of Michigan, he told The Washington Times earlier this week.