--- title: Donald Trump Campaign Blames White Nationalist Pick on Error description: Donald Trump appeared to have chosen a white nationalist leader as one of his pledged California delegates in the upcoming convention. canonical: https://time.com/4325437/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-10T21:21:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T01:35:43.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Campaign Blames Selection of White Nationalist Delegate on Database Error og:description: William Johnson, who chairs the American Freedom Party, will not be a delegate og:url: https://time.com/4325437/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9acc2f2e66bdf97/698892aa3c16392fc445d346/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: CHARLESTON, WV - MAY 5: Republican presidential candidate Donal og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Campaign Blames Selection of White Nationalist Delegate on Database Error twitter:description: William Johnson, who chairs the American Freedom Party, will not be a delegate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9acc2f2e66bdf97/698892aa3c16392fc445d346/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Campaign Blames Selection of White Nationalist Delegate on Database Error > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8f0859e1-6173-43ec-9815-284dbb124f54&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:35 AM UTCPublished: May 10, 2016 9:21 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses his supporters during a rally at the Charleston Civic Center on May 5, 2016 in Charleston, WV. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses his supporters during a rally at the Charleston Civic Center on May 5, 2016 in Charleston, WV. The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:35 AM UTCPublished: May 10, 2016 9:21 PM UTC Donald Trump appeared to have chosen a [prominent white nationalist leader](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/donald-trump-white-nationalist-afp-delegate-california) to serve as one of his pledged California delegates in the upcoming Republican national convention before his campaign backtracked on the inclusion, blaming a technical error. The presumptive GOP nominee for president had included [William Johnson](http://time.com/4293564/the-billionaire-and-the-bigots/), who chairs the white nationalist American Freedom Party, among his [list of 169 supporters](http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2016-primary/republican-delegates.pdf) submitted to California’s Secretary of State, _Mother Jones_ reports. However, Trump’s campaign on Tuesday said Johnson appearing on the list was an accident. “Yesterday the Trump campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California,” spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement to TIME. “A database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaign’s list in February 2016.” Hicks also added that Johnson will not be one of Trump’s delegates. Johnson had told _Mother Jones_ that he had applied to the Trump campaign to be a delegate and accepted the nod on Monday. “I just hope to show how I can be mainstream and have these views,” Johnson said. “I can be a white nationalist and be a strong supporter of Donald Trump and be a good example to everybody.” Johnson has paid for pro-Trump robocalls in at least six primary and caucus states, calling the candidate “the spark we needed,” he told TIME last month. Trump’s California delegate list also includes House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Harmeet Dhillon, vice chair of the California Republican Party, according to the [Los Angeles _Times_](http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-essential-poli-donald-trumps-california-delegates-include-house-1462850917-htmlstory.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4325437/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4325437/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Campaign Blames Selection of White Nationalist Delegate on Database Error","datePublished":"2016-05-10T21:21:38.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T01:35:43.000Z","description":"William Johnson, who chairs the American Freedom Party, will not be a delegate","url":"https://time.com/4325437/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9acc2f2e66bdf97/698892aa3c16392fc445d346/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9acc2f2e66bdf97/698892aa3c16392fc445d346/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CHARLESTON, WV - MAY 5: Republican presidential candidate Donal","caption":"CHARLESTON, WV - MAY 5: Republican presidential candidate Donal","creditText":"The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4325437/donald-trump-white-nationalist-delegate/","name":"Donald Trump Campaign Blames Selection of White Nationalist Delegate on Database Error"}}]}] ```