Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King had a mild meltdown when he was asked if he identifies as a white supremacist on Thursday, the first time he took questions after his history of racism came under renewed scrutiny.

At a public forum in Des Moines, an unidentified man compared similar statements made by King and the Pittsburgh shooter, who was charged with murdering 11 Jewish people Saturday.

The person asked what the differences between the two men’s ideologies were. King made a recent trip to Austria to visit concentration camps — a trip funded by a Holocaust memorial nonprofit — where he met with a far-right political party founded by a former Nazi SS officer and which is associated with neo-Nazi movements.

The Republican told the man not to associate him with the shooter and asked for the man to be escorted out.



“Do not associate me with that shooter. I knew you were an ambusher when you walked in the room. There’s no basis for that,” King said.



King didn’t directly answer when the man asked if the lawmaker identified as a white supremacist.

“Stop it! You’re done! I want to ask whoever’s guarding the door to ask this man to leave the room,” King said.

