The Donald Trump campaign rejected an uncomfortable backer Tuesday after the official paper of the Ku Klux Klan warmly embraced the Republican presidential nominee.
The Crusader, a quarterly journal that bills itself as "The Premier Voice of the White Resistance," issued a full-page spread supporting Trump.
"Make America Great Again!' It is a slogan that has been repeatedly used by Donald Trump in his campaign for the presidency," the Crusader's Pastor Thomas Robb wrote. "You can see it on the shirts, buttons, posters and ball caps such as the one being worn here by Trump speaking at a recent rally. ... But can it happen? Can America really be great again? This is what we will soon find out!"
In a statement, the Trump campaign said: “Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form. This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign.”
This is not the first time that the Trump campaign has been forced to distance the Republican presidential nominee from white supremacist groups and leaders.
Trump was criticized for being slow to denounce David Duke after the former KKK grand wizard formally gave the candidate his backing.
Trump has also repeatedly retweeted messages from white supremacist sympathizers.