The Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, and Rand Paul campaigns all received donations from the leader of a KKK offshoot the Council of Conservative Citizens, who are linked to Dylann Roof as helping to inspire his horrific attack in Charleston.
Campaign Donations Linked to White Supremacist
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
The leader of a white supremacist group that has been linked to Dylann Roof, the suspect in the murder of nine African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church last week, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns, including those of 2016 presidential contenders such as Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul, records show.
Mr. Cruz, a Texas senator, said Sunday night that he would be returning about $8,500 in donations that he had received from the Texas donor, Earl Holt III, who lists himself as president of the Council of Conservative Citizens.
Mr. Holt, in a statement posted online in his name, said he was not surprised to learn that Mr. Roof had found out about “black-on-white violent crime” from his group because, he said, it was one of the few that had the courage to disclose “the seemingly endless incidents involving black-on-white murder.” But he said his group does not advocate violence and should not be held responsible for the shootings.
Leader of group cited in 'Dylann Roof manifesto' donated to top Republicans
By Jon Swaine
Earl Holt has given $65,000 to Republican campaign funds in recent years while inflammatory remarks – including that black people were “the laziest, stupidest and most criminally-inclined race in the history of the world” – were posted online in his name.
Holt, 62, is the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), a Missouri-based activist organisation cited by the author of a manifesto-style text that was posted on a website registered in Roof’s name along with photographs of the gunman. The FBI said on Saturday it was investigating the website.
He has also given $1,750 to RandPAC, the political action committee of Paul, the Kentucky senator and presidential contender, and he gave $2,000 to the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.
A further $1,500 was donated by Holt to Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 Republican presidential primary runner-up, who is running for president again in the 2016 race and attended Sunday’s memorial service at Emanuel AME Church.
For an in depth look at the Council of Conservative Citizens predecessor orginization see:
History of Jim Crow: Citizen Councils "The Uptown Klan"
The Republican Party has been frantically trying to distance itself from Dylann Roof and his slaughter at Charleston's Emmanuel AME Church. Now we discover Republicans been welcoming money for years, from the head of this hate group that inspired Roof's attack.
UPDATE:
Republicans Scramble To Disavow Contributions From White Supremacists
Holt also gave generously to congressional campaigns, backing Rep. Steve King (R-IA), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and other lawmakers who oppose immigration reform and the social safety net.
In a tweet posted Monday, Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton said he too would return the $1,500 he received from Holt, adding that he does “not agree with his hateful beliefs and language and believe they are hurtful to our country.”
"White Skin Privilege allows me to pay taxes to the Yankee Government, which then distributes more than $1 Trillion of such taxes per year to every baby-daddy, baby-momma, welfare cheat, drug-dealer, Oprah-watcher, felon, alcoholic, drug-addict and deadbeat in America." ~Earl Holt