GOP Senator: Scalise Made ‘Grave Mistake’ If He Spoke to Duke Group

According to one of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise‘s Republican colleagues, the Louisiana representative made a “grave mistake” if he spoke to former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke‘s white supremacist group in 2002.

“If he talked to this group — and it seems like there’s confusion if he did or not — I think it’s a grave mistake on his part … to speak to that group,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press.

Todd asked Barrasso if Scalise should be serving in leadership — a question that the senator did not directly answer — and added comments by Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) who said Scalise does not have a “racist bone” in his body. He added that his constituents back in Wyoming aren’t talking about Scalise, and are instead focused on what the new Republican Congress has planned for the new year.

RELATED: CNN’s Smerconish Confronts David Duke over Scalise: Was He There or Not?

Rep.-Elect Mia Love (R-Utah) stood by Scalise on This Week, saying we should all move on from it since he apologized. In addition, Fox News host Greta van Susteren said Scalise should have stepped aside so that the Republican Party could have “sent a message.”

Watch the video below, via NBC News:

[Image via screengrab]

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