A member of Congress has called for the resignation of House Majority Whip Rep. Steven Scalise.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., believes that the republican from Lousiana should immediately resign from his leadership post because of a speech he made to a white supremacist group in 2002.
"It is beyond offensive that a member of House leadership would knowingly court such a hate group, and it is doubly insulting that Congressman Scalise asserts that he didn't know who David Duke was or the hate promoted by that group," Maloney said in an emailed statement to The Hill. "Speaker Boehner should demand Congressman Scalise resign his leadership post immediately."
Scalise, the third-ranking Republican in the House, admitted on Monday that he spoke at an event hosted by white supremacist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002, but claimed that he was unaware of the group's racist affiliation at the time. He apologized and said he regretted speaking at the event, The Washington Post reported.
The event was hosted by the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, which was founded by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke.
"For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous," Scalise told the Times-Picayune on Monday night, reported the Post.
Louisiana State Senator Elbert Guillory, a black Republican, told The Daily Caller on Wednesday that the media frenzy over Scalise's speech "is a desperate attempt to create something that does not exist."
"Just look at the man's record. Judge him by his record, not by who he meets, for God's sake. That's ludicrous," Guillory said.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said in a phone interview with the Post that it's "hard to believe, given David Duke's reputation in Louisiana, that somebody in politics in Louisiana wasn't aware of Duke's associations with the group or what they stand for."
The Louisiana Democratic Party, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee all released statements criticizing Scalise for engaging with the group, but not even House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has asked for his resignation, The Hill reported.
Following Scalise's apology, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., both released statements backing Scalise, saying that it was an isolated incident and that they are completely confident he will continue to perform his duties as whip.
