Congressional Republicans are set to host a large delegation from the German right-wing, anti-immigration party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Washington, DC, this December. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) announced the visit in an interview with the German outlet Die Welt. The group of approximately 40 German politicians could include AfD co-chair Alice Weidel.
“It’s not just going to be me; it’s going to be other members of Congress as well,” Luna said, adding that the trip will be followed by a larger-scale, Davos-like conference on the “sovereignty of nations” planned for early 2026.
While Luna did not name other members of the U.S. delegation, the invitation itself marks a significant development for the AfD. It is the first time the party has been officially invited to Washington, and notably, the invitation is coming from the American president’s party.
Earlier this year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán became the first European leader to receive senior AfD figures on an official visit, when Weidel met him in Budapest ahead of Germany’s early election in February.
In Germany and at the European level, mainstream and progressive parties maintain a strict “firewall” against the AfD. This includes refusing to vote with the party in parliament, form coalitions with it, or, in many cases, allowing it to hold official positions in the legislature. Additionally, the AfD is under high-level state surveillance by German security services and faces ongoing threats of a full ban due to alleged extremism.
By visiting Washington, the firewall surrounding the AfD could crack further. This followed earlier openings this year when U.S. billionaire Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance publicly expressed support for the party and its struggle against political oppression.
Weidel herself was invited by Rep. Luna at the end of October via a post on X (formerly Twitter), in which Luna asked the AfD co-chair to consider bringing a delegation in December. “Thank you for the kind invitation, @RepLuna. I will contact you about how we can make it happen,” Weidel responded at the time.
The visit comes shortly after AfD-linked political commentator Naomi Seibt announced she is seeking asylum in the United States, citing political persecution in Germany. Seibt claimed she has become the “target of intelligence surveillance, state media defamation, and Antifa threats” due to her outspoken support for the AfD.
Seibt’s case has found support from Rep. Luna, who has already met with her in Washington. “I think that she [Seibt] is a great young woman, and I do think that she has a promising future whatever she decides to do, and so we’ll be fully backing her,” Luna told Die Welt. “I’m actually not just going to be helping her, but I’m going to be helping others like her,” she added. “I do hope that maybe this at least provides some open dialogue on how the German government—specifically the politicians, law enforcement—treat their own citizens even if they don’t agree with them.”
While MAGA Republicans view the AfD as an ideological—and potentially civilizational, as JD Vance suggested in Munich—ally, the same sentiment is not shared by Democrats.
“Rep. Luna’s decision to roll out the red carpet for members of a far-right, Holocaust revisionist, Putin-loving party is grotesque,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said. Goldman has previously accused the AfD of antisemitism and being “hostile towards America.”
“At a time where antisemitism is at historical levels in this country, Anna Paulina Luna inviting representatives of a party that has invoked Nazi slogans and imagery to Congress is nothing short of revolting,” Madison Andrus, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told NOTUS.
AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla and several party members attended former President Trump’s inauguration in January this year. In September, Beatrix von Storch, the AfD’s deputy leader, met at the White House with officials from the National Security Council, the State Department, and JD Vance’s office.
The AfD has been leading every credible poll in Germany for months, ahead of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU), standing at around 25-27 percent—roughly two points ahead of the CDU.
https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/current/afd-alice-weidel-washington-visit-paulina-luna-maga-gop/