Today, Savannah State Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook and Chatham County Commissioner Aaron “Adot” Whitely held a virtual press call demanding that GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins hold a press conference to answer questions on his ties to white nationalists. The virtual press call happened after the Washington Post published alarming new reporting on a former Collins staffer uplifting Nazi imagery and depicting himself in a costume of the Ku Klux Klan.
According to the report, the former Collins staffer promoted swastika imagery and depicted himself in Ku Klux Klan robes as recently as June and July. He also told the Post, “I do think that the white race contributes more to the world.” Despite this, the Post reported, Collins “did not respond to a question about whether he stood by” his previous endorsement of Parra’s work.
Previously, Collins’ office was exposed for briefing Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer, two of the most notorious white supremacists in the country, on its efforts to free a Holocaust denier from jail.
Collins’ U.S. Senate campaign has been continuously plagued by a number of major scandals, including a federal investigation by the House Ethics Committee for Collins allowing his former chief of staff, who had been convicted of criminal battery, to illegally funnel thousands of federal tax dollars to a girlfriend who did no work for the office. The bipartisan Office of Congressional Conduct report detailed how “Collins refused to cooperate,” before formally recommending that the Committee on Ethics subpoena the congressman.
“A white nationalist who uplifted neo-Nazi imagery worked for Mike Collins and enthusiastically supports his campaign, and Collins has no response to that,” said Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook. “Today, I urge members of the Georgia press to reach out to Mike Collins and get answers to these questions as he remains silent and refuses to speak out on the white nationalists and neo-Nazi propagandists who seem to surround him.“
“Today we’re here to demand that Mike Collins hold a press conference and release all communications in response to the new Washington Post reporting on his white nationalist and neo-Nazi ties,” said Chatham County Commissioner Whitely. “You want to represent us, right? Well step up and be transparent.”
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