The White House criticizes the Republicans

The White House assessed that the choice of the leadership of the Republican Party "says a lot about who they are."

Republican Steve Scalise was a member of the Louisiana State Legislature when he spoke at the 2002 convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), which was founded two years earlier by former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke. .

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that it is up to the Republicans whether Scalise will take the third most important position in the new session of Congress, which has its first session tomorrow. In the new session of the House of Representatives, Scalise should implement the work plan of the Republicans in that house.

Earnest added that Scalise once described himself as "David Duke without the baggage."

After the news broke that he had participated in a racist rally, Scalise tried to distance himself from the organization, stating that it was understaffed at the time and that he did not know the details of the organization at which he was invited to speak.

Scalise's office said at the time that he spoke at the rally only to drum up support for conservative fiscal policies in Louisiana, not to support the goals and beliefs of white supremacists.

"He has never been associated with that heinous group. The hatred fueled by ignorance and bigotry that that group projects is completely contrary to what Scalise believes and does as a father, husband and devoted Catholic," the statement said.