Evan McMullin under attack by white supremacists
(KUTV) Utah-born presidential candidate, Evan McMullin, is being attacked by white supremacists who say the independent candidate is damaging Donald Trump’s chances of winning Utah’s six electoral votes on Nov. 8.
The McMullin campaign said white supremacists supporting Trump have made online death threats towards him in the past days. Rina Shah with the campaign said McMullin reported the threats to the Secret Service Tuesday morning. Shah would not elaborate on the details of those threats.
In addition to the death threats, a California white supremacist has sponsored and recorded a robocall attacking McMullin.
William Johnson of the American Freedom Party is a Trump delegate. He says the robocall will reach as many as 200,000 Utah voters by election day.
The calls attack McMullin’s family and question his sexuality. McMullin’s mother is married to another woman, and McMullin is single.
“Evan has two mommies, his mother is a lesbian married to another woman and Evan is okay with that,” the call states, then continues, “Evan is over 40 years old and is not married and doesn’t even have a girlfriend, I believe Evan is a closeted homosexual,” says Johnson.
McMullin responded to news of the calls today saying he expected dirty tricks like these, “I wasn't surprised by it, this is why we got into the race, this is the kind of guy and kind of campaign Donald Trump is running,” says McMullin.
The independent presidential candidate said he is straight and said the robocall is indicative of some of Trump’s supporters and the Trump campaign in general.
“We got into this race because we thought somebody needed to stand up to this kind of bigotry and divisiveness that Donald Trump is bringing to our country,” said McMullin.
Johnson is a white supremacist who has been part of the white separatist movement for decades. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Johnson “an uninspiring but determined white separatist,” who in 1985 wanted to push a constitutional amendment which would revoke the citizenship of every non-white inhabitant of the US.
Johnson graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Japanese. Since then he has been a persistent figure in the white separatist movement.
Johnson was a guest on the Rod Arquette Show on 570 AM, KNRS Tuesday and defended his robocalls. Arquette asked Johnson how he knew the candidate was gay. Johnson admitted he didn’t, “I just looked on the internet and it came up all sorts of people saying that they’re just rumors, I don't know, I don't know that man, it just comes up on the internet,” says Johnson.
The Trump campaign has distanced itself from Johnson and his robocalls.
Johnson and his AFP have endorsed Trump but say the campaign is not, in anyway, affiliated with those calls.
Johnson hopes the calls can change minds in Utah, “I think the net result is there will be people who will reconsider their vote and cast it for Donald Trump, that is my plan,” says Johnson.
McMullin said he doesn’t think the calls will work, “I frankly don't think these robocalls are going to resonate at all with the people here."
