Attending a white supremacist conference
Though Scalise issued an apology in 2014 over allegedly speaking at a rally of the Duke-founded white nationalist European-American Unity and Rights Organization, evidence suggests that the apology may have been made in error and that the Louisiana Republican likely never even attended the rally.
Scalise “spoke early in the day to a contingent of people, prior to the conference kicking off,” Kenny Knight, an associate of Duke and a key source for the original claim, said in 2014, according to Slate. “He was not there as a guest speaker at the conference.”
In other words, he spoke in a room where the conference was going to begin later in the day, but it wasn’t being used by the group at the time of Scalise’s address.
Knight said Scalise spoke to a group consisting overwhelmingly of local residents unaffiliated with the group, and that only a small contingent of members had joined the crowd to watch. There were no signs or banners in the room indicating that it was going to be the location for a conference of the controversial group.
“I think not,” Knight said when asked if there were signs or banners of the group hanging around. “I really truly believe if there were any signs or banners up, Mr. Scalise would [have asked], ‘What is that?’ And he probably would have left. Because I don’t recall having any banners or signs up at all.”
Knight’s account was corroborated by Barbara Noble, his then-girlfriend.
The only other source claiming that Scalise spoke at the EURO conference was an anonymous user of Stormfront, a white supremacist message board.
An ‘association’ with David Duke
Scalise was “friendly” with Knight, Duke’s campaign manager, who was from the same neighborhood as the future congressman. Duke told the Washington Post in 2014 about the relationship between the two men, and Duke wound up speaking at the event preceding the EURO conference as a result of their relationship.
“Scalise would communicate a lot with my campaign manager, Kenny Knight,” Duke said. “That is why he was invited and why he would come. Kenny knew Scalise, Scalise knew Kenny. They were friendly.”
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Duke didn’t speak about Scalise as though they were associates and told the outlet the two “never had a relationship.
“No lunches, no dinners with Scalise. I never supported him in any campaign,” Duke said. “I didn’t get the impression that he was one of us. I didn’t cultivate a relationship. Kenny was the one who did.”
I don’t know why you sent me this.