--- title: Donald Trump Throws 'Ku Klux Klan' Charge at Hillary Clinton description: Donald Trump retweeted a charge from two campaign surrogates that Hillary Clinton had a Ku Klux Klan member as "her mentor." canonical: https://time.com/4469954/donald-trump-kkk-ku-klux-klan-robert-byrd/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-28T17:33:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:41.846Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Throws 'Ku Klux Klan' Charge Back at Clinton og:description: Citing her words for former Sen. Robert Byrd. og:url: https://time.com/4469954/donald-trump-kkk-ku-klux-klan-robert-byrd/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a0c1452ca3c994e/6988a3e8428a9e66a7cd40ca/donald-trump-kkk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Throws 'Ku Klux Klan' Charge Back at Clinton twitter:description: Citing her words for former Sen. Robert Byrd. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a0c1452ca3c994e/6988a3e8428a9e66a7cd40ca/donald-trump-kkk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Throws 'Ku Klux Klan' Charge Back at Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 28, 2016 5:33 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Joni's Roast and Ride, a fundraiser for a PAC, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, in Des Moines, Iowa, on Aug. 27, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Joni's Roast and Ride, a fundraiser for a PAC, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, in Des Moines, Iowa, on Aug. 27, 2016. Gerald Herbert—AP by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 28, 2016 5:33 PM UTC Donald Trump retweeted a charge from two campaign surrogates that Hillary Clinton had a Ku Klux Klan member as “her mentor.” The Saturday tweet came at the end of a week in which Clinton [criticized Trump’s ties](http://time.com/4466706/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-radical-fringe-hate-transcript/) to the so-called “alt-right” movement and [released an ad](https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/768864106656956420) featuring Klan members discussing their support of Trump. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/769552592158412800) The tweet came from Diamond and Silk—sisters Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, who are black—who vocally support Trump and speak frequently at his rallies. It references remarks Clinton made about former West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, after his death in 2010, Clinton [called Byrd](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryweuBVJMEA) “a true American original, my friend and mentor.” Byrd, the longest-serving U.S. senator in history, served as a grand dragon in the Klan in his youth, which he described as [“an extraordinarily foolish mistake”](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-06-20-byrd-memoir%5Fx.htm) in a 2005 memoir. When he died, the NAACP issued a statement saying his career [“reflects the transformative power of this nation”](http://www.naacp.org/press/entry/naacp-mourns-the-passing-of-u.s.-senator-robert-byrd) as he “went from being an active member of the KKK to a being a stalwart supporter of the Civil Rights Act.” In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, said that the campaign does not welcome the support of former Klan wizard David Duke. “It does really bother me,” he said. “And Donald Trump made it clear repeatedly in this week that not only does he denounce David Duke, but we don’t want the support of people who think like David Duke.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4469954/donald-trump-kkk-ku-klux-klan-robert-byrd/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4469954/donald-trump-kkk-ku-klux-klan-robert-byrd/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Throws 'Ku Klux Klan' Charge Back at Hillary Clinton","datePublished":"2016-08-28T17:33:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:41.846Z","description":"Donald Trump retweeted a charge from two campaign surrogates that Hillary Clinton had a Ku Klux Klan member as \"her mentor.\"","url":"https://time.com/4469954/donald-trump-kkk-ku-klux-klan-robert-byrd/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a0c1452ca3c994e/6988a3e8428a9e66a7cd40ca/donald-trump-kkk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a0c1452ca3c994e/6988a3e8428a9e66a7cd40ca/donald-trump-kkk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Joni's Roast and Ride, a fundraiser for a PAC, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. 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