Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will be returning 8,500 white supremacist dollars.
The Council of Conservative Citizens plays a pivotal role in the racist manifesto found on a website registered to Dylann Roof, with the manifesto's author describing being influenced by the "brutal black-on-white murders" reported on the Council of Conservative Citizens' website. So it's ... interesting ... to see what candidates the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens favors. Earl Holt III is not only the president of a white supremacist group, he's a
big Republican donor.
Holt has since 2012 contributed $8,500 to Cruz, the Texas senator running for the Republican presidential nomination, and his Jobs, Growth and Freedom Fund political action committee, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. On some filings Holt’s occupation was listed as “slumlord”.
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.
Cruz' campaign says he will be returning the money, but the Santorum and Paul campaigns haven't yet commented.
It's possible that Ted Cruz has a weak enough campaign operation that they haven't looked into a Texas-based donor who's given $8,500 in hopes of cultivating him further. Lots of things are possible. But what we definitely know is that this white supremacist leader and self-described slumlord looked at the political landscape and picked Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum as some of the key politicians he wanted to financially support. Though to be fair, he's also given to Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Louie Gohmert, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Tom Cotton, and a lot more. This white supremacist finds a lot to like in today's Republican Party, is what I'm saying.
10:40 AM PT: Oh, look. He gave money to Scott Walker, as well.