U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) has donated to charity the $250 his campaign received in 2010 from a suspected white supremacist leader, a spokesman said today.
The publication Politico reported today that Earl Holt, president of the St. Louis-based Council of Conservative Citizens who was cited by alleged racist killer Dylann Roof, has given to numerous political candidates, among them Mr. Portman.
Portman spokesman Caitlin Conant said today that, “after learning about this donation in reports last night, Rob donated the money to charity.”
POLITICO REPORT: White supremacist leader was a political donor
Ms. Conant said Mr. Portman does not know Mr. Holt. She said he donated the Holt contribution to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund toward helping the victims of the tragedy in Charleston.
Mr. Portman was elected to the Senate in 2010 and is running for re-election in 2016.
Mr. Holt is the leader of a white supremacist group mentioned by Roof — the 21-year-old accused of last Wednesday shooting and killing nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church — in a racist manifesto on a website attributed to Roof.
Politico said that Mr. Holt has given to prominent 2016 candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum over the years, among others, while provocative statements in his name were posted online over the years, including on the conservative news site The Blaze, under the user name Earl P Holt III.
First Published June 22, 2015, 3:00 p.m.
