The Republican Governors Association (RGA) slammed Hillary Clinton’s ex-spokesman and CNN political contributor Brian Fallon in a statement on Saturday after Fallon derisively claimed Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie was a white supremacist.

“Brian Fallon’s attack on Ed Gillespie is shameful, disgraceful, and has no place in American politics,” said RGA Chairman Governor Scott Walker. “Ralph Northam, Hillary Clinton and CNN should immediately denounce Fallon’s blatant attempt to score political points from a tragedy, and CNN should question whether it serves the network and the viewing public well by giving a microphone to Fallon’s hateful rhetoric.”

Fallon claimed that Gillespie was a white supremacist in a tweet on Friday.

Live look at Ed Gillespie campaign strategy meeting: pic.twitter.com/izcs57hZUv — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) October 27, 2017

Earlier this week, Democrats sent out a flier with President Donald Trump and Gillespie’s images with a picture of the alt-right “Unite the Right” rally that took place in August in Charlottesville, VA, that read, “On Tuesday, November 7th, Virginia Gets to Stand Up…To Hate.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch condemned the Democrats, writing in an editorial, “That isn’t merely a reach. It’s practically libel.”

“Gillespie has repeatedly and passionately condemned white supremacists and other creatures that have crawled out from under the alt-right rock,” the Times-Dispatch added. “Linking him to them requires the following absurd logic: (1) Donald Trump said some stupid things about Charlottesville. (2) Trump is a Republican. (3) Gillespie is a Republican. (4) Therefore, Gillespie supports racial hate.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch endorsed Gillespie, after not endorsing any candidate in the last Virginia gubernatorial election.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, which is the state's paper of record, offers high praise for @RalphNortham before finally endorsing @EdWGillespie. pic.twitter.com/7C7CPOl4my — Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) October 27, 2017

Fallon’s derisive remarks come amidst CNN’s new “Facts First” advertising campaign, which amounts to a desperate attempt to persuade the country that the network is not “fake news”, a term often used by President Trump to describe the network.