A new video advertisement released by the Clinton Campaign links her rival Donald Trump with White supremacists and neo-Nazis, a move slammed by the top Republican leaders including the presidential nominee.
"The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes, we believe in," a robed man identified as the Imperial Wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan says at the top of the video.
This is followed by images of a Confederate flag fluttering in the wind, Trump waving after a speech, and a man performing a Hitler salute at what appears to be a Trump rally.
The video runs just over a minute and 10 seconds and wraps with a black and white image of the White House as audio from a Trump rally of attendees chanting the real estate mogul's name plays. The video ends with a warning that "If Trump wins, they could be running the country."
The Trump Campaign described the video as disgraceful.
"Hillary Clinton and her campaign went to a disgusting new low today as they released a video tying the Trump Campaign with horrific racial images," Pastor Mark Burns of the Trump Campaign said in a statement yesterday.
"This type of rhetoric and repulsive advertising is revolting and completely beyond the pale. I call on Hillary Clinton to disavow this video and her campaign for this sickening act that has no place in our world," he said.
Patricia Bober of the Republican Leadership Initiative said it is "absolutely shameful" that Clinton and her campaign have injected such vile racism into this election.
"These hurtful images and rhetoric in her video show why Clinton is unfit to be the next president of the US," she said.
"Hillary Clinton has demonstrated today that she's more interested in subterfuge than addressing the issues in front of her. How can someone who has so many unaddressed questions about her own truthiness serve the highest office in this land?" said Oz Sultan, Republican Leadership Initiative.
At a rally in New Hampshire, Trump said such tricks are from the Democratic playbook.
"Now, I've not seen what Hillary is going to say, but I've heard about it. And, in a sense, I don't want to dignify her statements by dwelling on them too much, but a response is required for the sake of all decent voters that she is trying to smear," Trump said.
"When Democratic policies fail, they are left with only this one tired argument. 'You're racist, you're racist, you're racist,' they keep saying it, 'you're racist.' It's a tired, disgusting argument, and it's so totally predictable. They're failing so badly. It's the last refuge of the discredited Democrat politician. They keep going back to the same well, but you know what? The people are becoming very smart. They've heard it too many times before. The well is dry," Trump said.
