Ex-KKK leader runs for US Senate in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE: David Duke, a former leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, launched his candidacy for the US Senate from Louisiana, saying white people are threatened in America and that he hears echoes of his views in Donald Trump’s rhetoric.

Duke, a Republican, is a former Louisiana state legislator and unsuccessful candidate for governor who served a 15-month federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2002 to felony charges of tax evasion and mail fraud.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, drew criticism in February for failing to quickly disavow support from Duke.

At a news conference in Baton Rouge after officially filing as a candidate to succeed outgoing Republican Senator David Vitter, Duke, 66, said he watched Trump’s speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday in Cleveland and heard echoes of his own past political platforms.

“I don’t really care what Donald Trump says about me. I respect what he’s doing,” Duke said on Friday. — Reuters