Donald Trump's campaign has selected a white nationalist as a delegate from California to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July.
William Johnson, 61, who leads the American Freedom Party was announced Monday as a delegate for Trump,
Mother Jones reported on Tuesday.
His name was included on a list of 169 Trump delegates published by the California Secretary of State's Office.
Johnson's group "exists to represent the political interests of White Americans" and aims to preserve "the customs and heritage of the European American people," Mother Jones reports.
The organization has never elected a candidate of its own and has "a few thousand members," according to the report.
However, Mark Potok of the
Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate organizations, described the AFP as "arguably the most important white nationalist group in the country."
The group established in 2009 by skinheads in Southern California, according to the center.
The SPLC also called Johnson "an uninspiring but determined white separatist."
He told Mother Jones: "I just hope to show how I can be mainstream and have these views.
"I can be a white nationalist and be a strong supporter of Donald Trump and be a good example to everybody."
In February, Trump said he would
return a $250 donation that Johnson had made to the campaign. He was also featured in robocalls pushing the developer to Iowa voters.
Hope Hicks, a Trump spokeswoman, slammed the Mother Jones report as "totally false."
She told The Hill that Johnson was selected from an outdated list.
"Yesterday the Trump campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California," Hicks told The Hill in an email.
"A database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaign's list in February 2016."
But the Democratic National Committee quickly bashed Trump for his "racist, xenophobic candidacy."
"Donald Trump is the candidate who will Make America Hate Again," DNC spokesman Mark Paustenbach told The Hill. "Trump's racist, xenophobic candidacy continues to fuel a resurgence of white nationalism in the United States, and to elevate a man like this shows that Trump has neither the temperament nor judgment to serve as president."
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