House Democrat warns ethics committee about Steve King promoting white nationalism website

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) alerted the House Ethics Committee to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) using his official government website to promote a white nationalist blog.

Ryan sent a letter to the committee on Tuesday after a HuffPost report found that King’s government website links to anti-immigrant site VDare.

The Ohio Democrat’s letter, addressed to committee chairman Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and ranking member Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas), said he wanted the panel to be aware of “the continued use of government resources on the part of Rep. King to promote and advance white nationalism.” 

{mosads}A link on King’s website directs readers to a 2016 VDare piece from author Brenda Walker, who has made several false anti-immigrant claims, HuffPost found. She has written that Mexicans are “an ethnic group that has neither interest nor aptitude” and has falsely stated that “sex with children is socially acceptable in Mexico.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes VDare as an “anti-immigration hate website” that serves to “promote the work of white supremacists, anti-Semites and others on the radical right.”

Ryan added in the letter obtained by the outlet that King’s behavior “brings shame on the House of Representatives as a representative institution.”

Michael Zetts, Ryan’s spokesman, told HuffPost that the letter to the panel is not necessarily an indication that he will again push for a censure against King.

“We are going to wait to hear back from the Ethics Committee first,” Zetts said.

The Hill has reached out to King for comment.

Tom Rust, the staff director and chief counsel of the Ethics Committee, declined to comment to HuffPost about the letter.

Ryan’s letter follows his attempts to censure King after the Iowa Republican questioned in an interview with The New York Times why the terms “white supremacist” and “white nationalist” had become “offensive.”

The comments sparked massive backlash and led to House Republicans stripping the nine-term congressman of his committee assignments.

King said in a House floor speech that he made a “freshman mistake” in agreeing to an interview with the Times and said he regretted the “heartburn” his comments had caused.

“I’ve never been anti-immigrant. I have been anti-illegal immigrant, and I remain that way,” King said. 

King sought to make clear that he rejects ideologies like white nationalism.

“I reject that ideology. I defend American civilization, which is an essential component of western civilization,” King said.