Holt, who according to the Times has identified himself on some records as a “Texas slumlord.” According to media reports, he has donated $65,000 to Republican campaign funds including those of including Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona ($1,000), Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas ($1,500), former Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota ($3,200), Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, and former Representative Todd Akin of Missouri.

In a statement published on Sunday, the same day hundreds of people jammed services at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where the June 17 shootings occurred, Holt said it was not surprising that “Roof — the alleged perpetrator of mass murder in Charleston this week — credits the CofCC website for his knowledge of black-on-white violent crime.

“The CofCC is one of perhaps three websites in the world that accurately and honestly report black-on-white violent crime, and in particular, the seemingly endless incidents involving black-on-white murder.”

Holt went on to say “We are no more responsible for the actions of this sad young man, than the Olin Corporation was for manufacturing the ammo misused by Colin Ferguson to murder six whites on the Long Island Railroad in 1993.”

Statements signed by a person using Holt’s full name, Earl P. Holt III, and referring to Longview, Texas, as his hometown — where Holt lives, have been posted over the past four years to The Blaze, a conservative news website, according to The Guardian.

Jared Taylor, a close associate of Holt and former director of the CofCC, told The Guardian that Holt had asked him to handle media for inquiries relating to the Charleston massacre. He said, “If there’s a statement that is ‘Earl P Holt III’, he probably made it.”

Under a February 2014 article, the Guardian reported that the user named Holt warned other readers that black activists would “kill you, rape your entire family, and burn your house to the ground”. According to an account of a report by a witness, Roof said to his victims in Charleston last week: “You rape our women” before he began firing.

Al Jazeera with wire services