Roy Moore touted backing of this Indiana group. Its leader has white nationalist ties.

Roy Moore, the embattled Republican Senate candidate in Alabama, warmly embraced help earlier this week from a new Indiana political group, even touting its support in a press release.

But the Indiana First PAC is led by a Hoosier with ties to a white nationalist organization — a revelation that sent Indiana Republicans scrambling Wednesday to gain distance from the group.

Caleb Christopher Shumaker, chairman of Indiana First PAC, acknowledged Wednesday in an interview with IndyStar that he was briefly involved with the National Youth Front, founded as the youth wing of the white nationalist American Freedom Party.

Shumaker, 25, said his involvement with the group, in 2014, lasted barely a month and that he left when he realized its message was racist. "I fully, 100 percent condemn any form of racism, including white nationalism,” he said.

After various forays into Republican grassroots politics, Shumaker resurfaced this October with the creation of the Indiana First PAC. He declined to name its board members or donors and the group remains cloaked in secrecy.

Yet, on Tuesday, the Indiana First PAC was gaining national press exposure after Moore boasted about its endorsement. It was a welcome sign of national support for Moore, who has been under fire after a number of women accused him of sexual misconduct or unwanted advances when they were teenagers.

“Indiana First is committed to the success of President Trump’s America First agenda and I am honored to receive their endorsement,” Moore said in a news release. “Republicans from across America are recognizing the incredible significance of this race for the future of conservatism and continue to unite in force around our campaign.”

Shumaker discounts the accusations women have made about Moore's behavior and said he supports Moore's "principled conservatism."

Shumaker said his PAC, based in Washington, Ind., would use 30 of its millennial volunteers to make phone calls for Moore in Alabama that would not only promote the conservative firebrand but also denounce the support of abortion rights by Moore's opponent, Democrat Doug Jones. Closer to the Dec. 12 election, Shumaker said he expects members of the group to travel to Alabama to help with Moore’s campaign.

Whether Moore or his campaign knew of Shumaker's previous involvement with National Youth Front is unclear. The Moore campaign did not respond to messages left Wednesday by IndyStar.

Shumaker's ties to the white nationalist group have been obscured somewhat by his name.

During his time with the National Youth Front, he used the name Caleb Shumaker. As leader of the Indiana First PAC, he has identified himself on social media and in media interviews as Caleb Christopher. After questioning by IndyStar, he acknowledged that his full name is Caleb Christopher Shumaker.

Shumaker said he didn't know what he was getting into when he joined the National Youth Front. He said he was recruited by Nathan Damigo, a well-known white supremacist. Damigo would later gain notoriety for being caught on video punching a 95-pound woman during a clash between Trump supporters and protesters in Berkeley, Calif.

"I linked up with somebody who ended up being Alt Right," Shumaker said, "and within months when it started going in that direction, I split off."

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Shumaker describes his involvement with the National Youth Front as limited to a month, with no leadership role.

But avowed white nationalist William D. Johnson, chairman of the American Freedom Party that aimed to use the youth organization as a development tool, told IndyStar Wednesday that Shumaker was the director of the National Youth Front for four months and that they worked together. Johnson said Shumaker left after members objected to Shumaker's marriage to a Latina.

The American Freedom Party gave Shumaker a letter, in October, acknowledging that he left the National Youth Front "because of our controversial views on race and our support of primarily European-American issues."

Shumaker said his wife is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant and that their relationship, along with their child and two stepchildren, should prove he is not a racist.

Yet, a National Youth Front video posted on YouTube in 2014 under the name “Caleb Shumaker” shows footage of minorities assaulting white people. A voiceover says, “We watch as our cities burn, the result of a nation ethnically fractured by a failed utopian social experiment of massive immigration and multiculturalism.”

Shumaker said the organization posted the video, titled “Declaration of War,” under his name, but that he had nothing to do with it. He said the voice in the video is not his.

When confronted with other inflammatory social media posts made under his name, Shumaker said his successors at the organization continued to use his name to post information after he left. He said he has been working to have such posts taken down.

Marilyn Mayo, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, said it was implausible that Shumaker wasn't aware of what he was getting into when he became involved with National Youth Front.

“He would have had a lot of blinders on to not know that these groups were involved in white nationalism,” she said.

Moore's Senate campaign promoted the Indiana First PAC's endorsement by describing Shumaker's group as being staffed by "seasoned campaign veterans." But Shumaker's political resume is thin.

He said he had a cursory involvement with the Daviess County Young Republicans.

Daviess County Republican Party Chairwoman Janet Schuler-Hicks said Shumaker considered running for Washington City Council in 2015. But party officials turned him away.

"There was some information on the web that he was involved with a group that was related to white supremacy. So that’s definitely not consistent with Republican values," she said. "I met with him personally and suggested he take some time, if the information on internet was not correct, to get that removed and that he take some time to volunteer in the community rather than immediately run for office so that he could get some experience."

Shumaker said he served as the Indiana state director with Millennials for Ted Cruz in 2016.

More recently, he worked for the U.S. Senate primary campaign of Republican Mike Braun, collecting signatures for ballot access.

"Once we became aware of Mr. Shumaker’s past comments and associations, his contract was terminated immediately," Braun adviser Barney Keller said in an emailed statement to IndyStar Wednesday. "Mike Braun strongly and unequivocally condemns Mr. Shumaker’s disgusting beliefs and believes they have no place in American politics.”

Shumaker's new venture, the Indiana First PAC, proclaims on its website that it is about "Mobilizing the Trump Coalition in 2018." But Shumaker said the group vaulted into action this fall, earlier than it planned, because, "We saw a good opportunity."

Other than Moore, the only other endorsement Indiana First lists on its website is for Indiana Congressman Jim Banks, whose team sought Wednesday to distance itself from Indiana First.

"The congressman has never met with this organization and didn't seek its endorsement," his chief of staff, Matt Lahr, said. "We are trying to learn more about who they are. Congressman Banks believes that regardless of our political differences, Hoosiers must reject hatred and racism."

Shumaker said he wants to promote the Trump agenda by creating a smaller government and putting America first. But those aims may have to compete for now with questions about his brush with white nationalism.

Contact Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081 or Robert King at (317) 444-6089.