NOLA – Reports that Rep. Steve Scalise, the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, gave a speech to a white nationalist conference connected with David Duke in 2002 are not accurate, the man who organized the events said Wednesday (Dec. 31).
Kenny Knight, a longtime political adviser to Duke, said Scalise spoke at a meeting of the Jefferson Heights Civic Association — not affiliated with the European-American Unity and Rights conference that was held in the same Metairie hotel — two-and-a-half hours before the white nationalist event started.
Barbara Noble, who was dating Knight and said she attended the meeting, also said Wednesday that Scalise spoke to the civic group, not EURO.
Scalise apologized this week for speaking to the EURO group, although he said he was unaware of the connections or the group’s white supremacy ideology. Scalise has come under fire from some Democratic leaders and others, including calls for him to step down from his leadership position.
“Poor Steve Scalise is a good man — a good, Christian man,” Knight said.
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Knight said he rented and paid for the hotel conference room for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, a group founded by Duke. Since he had already paid for the space, Knight said, he decided to also hold his local civic association meeting at the Metairie hotel. He stressed that the two gatherings were not connected.
“Steve Scalise did not address a EURO conference. … The conference was two-and-a-half hours later,” Knight said.
