Leader of group cited in 'Dylann Roof manifesto' donated to top Republicans

[umbertino]

• Council of Conservative Citizens cited on site linked to Charleston suspect
•  
• Ted Cruz campaign tells Guardian it will ‘be making a full refund’
•  
• FEC shows Earl Holt gave to 2016 hopefuls Santorum, Paul and more

 

 

Jon Swaine in New York

@jonswaine

 

Monday 22 June 2015 02.37 BST

 

 

 

 

The leader of a rightwing group that Dylann Roof allegedly credits with helping to radicalise him against black people before the Charleston church massacre has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans such as presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum.

 

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.

 

After being approached by the Guardian on Sunday, Cruz’s presidential campaign said it would be returning all money the senator had received from Holt.

 

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.

 

The manifesto’s author, who has been widely reported but not verified as Roof, recounted learning about “brutal black on white murders” from the CofCC website.

 

“At this moment I realised that something was very wrong,” the manifesto said.

 

Roof, 21, is charged with the murders of nine black people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, last Wednesday. He is accused of joining a bible study group before opening fire and fleeing.

 

In a statement published on Sunday, Holt said it was “not surprising” that Roof was apparently informed by the group’s website as it reported race relations “accurately and honestly”. However, he added: “The CofCC is hardly responsible for the actions of this deranged individual merely because he gleaned accurate information from our website.”

 

Reached by telephone at home on Sunday evening by the Guardian, Holt said he was busy and hung up.

 

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.

 

In response to questions from the Guardian, Rick Tyler, a spokesman for Cruz, said in an email: “Upon review, we discovered that Mr Holt did make a contribution. We will be immediately refunding the donation.”

 

Tyler said Cruz’s own campaign and leadership PAC would “be making a full refund”.

 

Matthew Beynon, a spokesman for Santorum, said in an email: “Senator Santorum does not condone or respect racist or hateful comments of any kind. Period. The views the Senator campaigns on are his own and he is focused on uniting America, not dividing her.”

 

A spokesman for Paul’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

 

A series of racist statements have been posted over the past four years to the website of The Blaze, a conservative news outlet, by a user going by Holt’s full name, Earl P Holt III. The user referred to Longview, Texas – which is where Holt lives – as his hometown. A commenter using the same screen name on various other news websites has identified himself as a member of the CofCC.

 

Jared Taylor, a close associate of Holt and former director of the CofCC, who said Holt had asked him to handle media inquiries relating to the massacre, said in an interview: “If there’s a statement that is ‘Earl P Holt III’, he probably made it.”

 

Several of the comments referred to black people as “Africanus Criminalis”, a faux-Latin label also used in an online message for which Holt reportedly apologised in 2004. Holt, then a radio host in Missouri, referred to black people as “niggers” five times in the message.

 

In June 2012 the poster “Earl P Holt III” stated that he had bought and become proficient in “a great many weapons” to ensure that being white did not “get me murdered” by non-white people. Two months earlier the same user responded to an article about the New Black Panther Party with a request for advice on buying ammunition “Does anyone know where I can get 180 grain .308 NATO rounds with a polymer tip?,” he wrote.

 

Under a February 2014 article, the same user warned other readers that black activists would “kill you, rape your entire family, and burn your house to the ground”. According to an account of a report by a witness, Roof complained to his victims in Charleston last week: “You rape our women.”

 

One comment said of black people: “One can extricate them from the jungle, but one CANNOT purge the jungle from THEM”, while another said: “I do wish they’d keep their violence and savagery within their own communities”.

 

The commenter using Holt’s name also complained under a story about white privilege about his taxes being distributed “to every baby-daddy, baby-momma, welfare cheat, drug-dealer, Oprah-watcher, felon, alcoholic, drug-addict and deadbeat in America.”

 

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.

 

 

 

A photograph posted to a website with a racist manifesto appears to show Dylann Roof, the suspect in Wednesday’s Charleston church massacre.

Photograph: Reuters

 

 

 

 

People mourn at the memorial site outside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, after a Sunday service.

Photograph: John Taggart/EPA

 

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/21/dylann-roof-manifesto-charlston-shootings-republicans

 

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

 

You realise you are part of the problem for posting and spreading this kind of incendiary garbage, man.

 

Stop giving it a platform to further incite and rile.  Take the high road, dude.  

[Bunk]

He is worse then msnbc..Or atleast equal too.

[Shabibilicious]

Umbertino, I give you mad props for shaking up the status quo.  Most would rather ignore that which causes them to break out in a rash.  Peace to you, my Italian brother.    

 

GO RV, then BV

[TrinityeXchange]

thanks for posting umbertino.  +1

 

its fascinating how many here find such fun with posting of quotes like "Obama's baby mama", but posting something of this nature is incendiary garbage.  i've learned quite a lot as a dv member....quite a lot.

[Bunk]

thanks for posting umbertino.  +1

 

its fascinating how many here find such fun with posting of quotes like "Obama's baby mama", but posting something of this nature is incendiary garbage.  i've learned quite a lot as a dv member....quite a lot.

 

What is worse,msnbc or the national inquirer??

[TrinityeXchange]

What is worse,msnbc or the national inquirer??

you are leaving off a trail of news sources my friend that many here draw their opinions from.  its hilarious how i might listen in on savage or hannity to see what they are talking about and when i visit dv website i will read people posting word-for-word exactly what they are saying.  word for word, as if these guys only preach gospel truth.  

 

it is unfortunate that not many search for truth for themselves but are minions to the opinions of other flesh and blood human beings.  

[pattyangel]

Come on people!!! what politician hasn't received monies from an individual that doesn't have skeletons in their closet.  What makes this situation any different.  

 

It's ping pong with the media, back and forth, making ratings, feeding this storm of hate and division. 

 

What I see with this situation is that these nine lives mattered, yes indeed they did, no denying it. What I say to the state of South Carolina... these nine lives were ever so close to their God at the time their lives were taken. Unfortunately they were taken from us in an evil manner.  Don't let their death go down in vain, let their death be new life for your community, let their death bring you closer to His love. Don't allow your hearts to harden.  Don't let this incented go to waste, build up the love of God and lean on Him to change things for the betterment of men.  Step away from those who guide you down the path of deception, including Mr. Obama, the politicians, the media, even family and friends.  Their words are not of God's wisdom. 

 

Don't put your confidence in powerful people: there is no hope for you there.  But joyful are those who have God of Israel as their  helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.  He made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them.  He keeps every promise forever...  PSALM 146:3,5-6

 

"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.  You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."  Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."  Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

"Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

" Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.  Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.  Hatred  darkens life; love illuminates it."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

A man of great wisdom not only for the African Americans, but for all races. 

 

Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Mr. Obama and the likes of others, have nothing compare to this man.  

[umbertino]

Umbertino, I give you mad props for shaking up the status quo.  Most would rather ignore that which causes them to break out in a rash.  Peace to you, my Italian brother.    

 

GO RV, then BV

 You're kind and that's appreciated.

 

I just bring articles and then it's up to Folks here to read and decide...Obviously.

 

Also.... Grazie Trinity for your words

 

Peace out

Edited June 22, 2015 by umbertino