Rick Santorum, Rand Paul to donate funds from hate group leader

Two of the GOP presidential candidates who received donations from the head of a white supremacist group cited in the manifesto believed to have been written by the alleged Charleston church shooter say they will give the money to a fund set up to help families of the victims.

The Council of Conservative Citizens is listed as a white supremacist extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and its leader, Earl Holt, gave Rick Santorum $1,500 and RandPAC, Rand Paul's political action committee, $1,740, The Guardian reported Sunday. Both men say they plan to donate the money to a fund created to assist the families of the nine people killed last week at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. "Rather than put more money back in the pockets of such an individual, my 2012 campaign committee will be donating the amount of his past donations to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund to support the victims of this tragedy," Santorum said in a statement.

Ted Cruz has received $8,500 since 2012 and on Sunday, his campaign said he would return the money. Over the past several years, Holt has given a total of $65,000 in donations to current and former GOP members of Congress, NBC News reports.

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