that was the event that steve skalise was invited to and spoke at.or aufts and put together community-based organizations. ha is what the group's national director said at the tame of that workshop. all of this came to light today after a louisiana bloger had a member called storm front, probably the most. in that post the ewe e anonymous storm front user says he or she attended the conference in 22 e 002 and that the meeting was productive locally as state representative steve skalise discussed ways to oversee gross misuse of tax revenue or slush funds that have no accountability. the dire circumstances pervasive in many important, under-funded needs of the community at the expensive graft and urban development fund in an apparent give i way. this is the account of one anonymous user of a white supremest igs web site. and to be clear, skalise's office acknowledged today that he did speak to david duke's group in 2002 but they are adamant that skalise was unaware of the racist nature of the organization at the time of that speech. this is the stateme

steve skalise was pretty new. there's not a lot propping him up.cessarily, isn't great. so this is definitely a series e serious cry sisz for him right now. >> so i imagine, at first he said he didn't know. and now i imagine the story is going to be look we had no idea we were talking to anybody. you throw a conference, we're there talking about our tax plan. how plausible is it that he just rolled up to the -- i think, the best western, with no idea what the heck he was addressing? in general, it isn't unheard of. but in this case there's a reaction of disbelief from a lot of plit coles. this is different duke. this is not an absecure figure. this is someone who has an international embarrassment for the united states and else specially for lae la. because he kept winning or running competitive elections in the state. this isn't someone who was, like some obscure french figure. maybe you dchblt know he wrote something on a web site at one time. it seems within two minutes of walking into that hotel, you probably had a good idea what's going on. >>

the two who were above steve is e skalise in leadership. after all, republicans are just days aaway from taking charge o the republican congress. the last thing they want right now is a big, messy, protracted discussion especially one involving david duke. how are republicans going to play this? how are republican leaders going to handle this? we got our answer just after lunchtime today. >> right after that, congressman skalise acknowledged he made a mistake. i know that he does not share the believes of that organization. meanwhile, it is e as that was happening, skalise himself stepped up his own defense today. he spoke to many different louisiana groups back in those days trying to sell his tax and spending plan. and then he condemns the views of the neonazi group. he is among that groups targets. skalise also noeted that he was just a state legislature in lae la. lae la. louisiana. in other words, the idea that it would be a lot easier then for an invitation. now, to be clear on where we stand right now in terms of what we know, we sti

the house gop leadership rallyied around steve skalise but number one in the house after sk arksz lise indicated he had spoken to white nationalists in 2002 when he was a lae la state legislator. >> basically, he called me to ask me e me to go speak and i would go and talk to him about my plans to eliminate slush funds. so i've spoke to groups. i'm not familiar with who that group was, but, you know from what i see about them they don't represent the values that i represent. >> group in question was founded by grand wizard david duke and went by the name european immunity whites organization. skalise has been in full damage control mode since the story broke, working the phones to assure support from colleagues. house speaker john boehner and the number 2, kevin mccarthy both spoke support for skalise today. he has my full confidentce as our whip. it's not just from democrats. con sefbserveative radio host are calling for ben e boehner to be repolice stationed. eric ericson is expressing bafflement. "how the hell does someone show up at a david duke-organized event and claim ignorance.