WASHINGTON -- GOP Rep. Tom Emmer sent back the $500 campaign contribution he received from Earl Holt, a supremacist leader who allegedly inspired the Charleston shooting suspect, Emmer staffers confirmed Monday.
Federal records show Emmer's predecessor from the Sixth Congressional District, former Rep. Michele Bachmann, a one-time presidential hopeful, received a total of $3,200 from 2011 to 2013 from Holt. The man is the president of the Council for Concerned Citizens, which has been tagged by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white supremacist organization.
Bachmann did not immediately get back to the Star Tribune for comment about the contributions.
Holt, who listed his occupation as "slumlord" in federal records, more recently has donated to a number of Republican presidential contenders, including Rick Santorum, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul.
The New York Times reported Monday that two of those campaigns are either giving back the Holt donations or donating them to charities helping Charleston families victimized by the mass shooting there last week. Nine people were killed.
