Last week some clever internet detectives discovered the South Carolina church shooter's private website and racist manifesto which, among other things, revealed that Dylann Roof was educated by Earl Holt, the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist organization.
The Guardian did some of its own digging and discovered that Holt has donated money to a number of prominent Republican candidates and campaigns.
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. [...]
Holt has also distributed tens of thousands in campaign contributions among prominent Republicans in congress, such as Representative Steve King of Iowa ($2,000), Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas ($1,500) and Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona ($1,000). He also gave $3,200 to the former Minnesota congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann.
Holt also donated to Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.
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. [...]
Portman spokesman Caitlin Conant said today that, “after learning about this donation in reports last night, Rob donated the money to charity.”
Holt has also donated to Scott Walker according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Madison— The leader of a group that influenced the man accused of killing nine people in a South Carolina church last week has donated money to multiple Republicans running for the presidency, and gave $3,500 to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker since 2011, state records show. [...]
A spokeswoman for Walker did not immediately say whether the governor would part with the donations he has received from Holt.
Obviously, politicians cannot be expected to do a background check on all of their donors which can number from the hundreds to the tens of thousands, but it clearly isn't a coincidence that Dylann Roof's mentor has made generous donations to GOP campaigns. This is the GOP's constituency. The next thing you'll tell me is Roof and Holt are big fans of Fox News.
The only real surprise to me is Holt did not donate a greater amount of money to Steve King; the segregationist kingpin of Congress.