Trump Campaign: White Supremacist Delegate Was 'Database Error'
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The Donald Trump campaign insists a white supremacist was included as one of its California delegates by mistake, and has been replaced.
The Secretary of State certified Trump's list of delegates, including William Johnson – the white nationalist leader of the American Freedom Party.
Trump's California campaign manager Tim Clark told KCBS that it was a database error that led to Johnson's selection, and the campaign had ruled him out weeks ago.
"We reviewed his background and determined that he was not going to be on our delegate list," Clark said. "It was a simple database error."
The Secretary of State's office says it is too late for Trump to change his delegate slate. But Clark said "the California Republican Party, which is the final arbiter of who their delegates are, has already removed him from the list. He will not be one of our delegates in Cleveland."
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West Walker, a middle school teacher from Tracy who is one of the 172 delegates who did make the cut, said he's thrilled to be chosen.
"I'm just very passionate about it. I think he's gonna be a great change. We need to have checks and balances sometimes in our governmental structure, and I think that's what he's bringing forward for us," Walker said.
Walker rejects the suggestion that Trump is racist, and that Johnson's inclusion on the original list was not an accident. "Donald Trump's speeches don't show any racial, any bigotry. He is not racist. He is not bigotry. That's all just media bias."
Trump's other California delegates include House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and San Francisco venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
