It's highly improbable that a Ku Klux Klan leader endorsed Hillary Clinton for president and/or donated $20,000 to her campaign.
CLAIM: The KKK officially switched their presidential endorsement from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton and donated $20,000 to the latter's campaign.
UNPROVEN
WHAT'S FALSE: The man claiming to be a Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon made statements of questionable legitimacy and provided no evidence that they were anything but a media hoax.
ORIGIN: In mid-March 2016, purported Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard William Quigg told several media outlets that he and his contemporaries had switched their presidential candidate of choice from Republican front-runner Donald Trump to Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton:
We want Hillary Clinton to win. She is telling everybody one thing, but she has a hidden agenda. Sheās telling everybody what they want to hear so she can get elected, because sheās Bill Clintonās wife, sheās close to the Bushes. Once sheās in the presidency, sheās going to come out and her true colors are going to show. Border policies are going to be put in place. Our second amendment rights that sheās saying sheās against now, sheās not against. Sheās just our choice for the presidency.
Although this information was widely disseminated on social media as straightforward fact, all sources pointed back to a 14 March 2016
article from the UK's
Telegraph in which Quigg had purportedly revealed his new pro-Clinton agenda. However, it didn't take much of a skeptical eye to conclude that Quigg was likely pulling the news outlet's leg:
He was unwilling to disclose how he learned of Mrs Clintonās āhidden agendaā.
āI cannot reveal my sources,ā he said. āItās my opinion ā if you know what I mean, wink, wink. I donāt want her to come back and say Iām slandering her.ā
Mr Quigg warmly endorsed the Republican candidateās plan to ban Muslims from the US and to expel 11 million illegal immigrants ... Asked why he was not therefore supporting Mr Trump, Mr Quigg replied: āWe donāt like his hair. We think itās a toupee. He wonāt do what he says he will do. He says heās going to build a 20-foot high fence along with border with Mexico and make them pay. Howās he going to do that?ā
Professor Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino said as much to
The Telegraph about the claim:
Prof Levin, a former New York police officer, was sceptical of Mr Quiggās renunciation. āBased on his past statements, it doesnāt appear highly credible that he has changed his effusive allegiance to Donald Trump,ā he said. āThe timing seems suspect. I think this is a function of not wanting to undermine the Trump campaign [by openly endorsing it]."
So while it's true that
The Telegraph reported (and other outlets disseminated) Quigg's claim that the KKK was now supporting Hillary Clinton and had donated $20,000 to her campaign, that assertion was widely deemed not to be credible by sources familiar with such groups. Moreover, Quigg neither presented proof of his claims nor discussed them seriously.
KKK Endorses Hillary Clinton? Not Likely.
Just another unproven right-wing conspiracy theory. Other than for propaganda purposes - there is absolutely no logic in the KKK or any white nationalist/supremacist group endorsing or supporting Hillary Clinton in any way. In fact, these racist groups are opening praising Trump for helping to bring about their resurgence. Trump obviously appreciates their support - because he keeps sending them dog whistles.