Republican congressman Steve King has previously compared immigrants to dogs, retweeted a Nazi sympathiser and implied that immigration involving Muslim children may stop America’s civilisation from being “restored”.

But the Iowa representative sparked more controversy on Thursday after the publication of an interview in which he questioned why the language of white supremacy was offensive.

“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how did that language become offensive?" Mr King said, according to The New York Times.

"Why did I sit in classes teaching me [sic] about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

The comments were met with anger on both sides of the aisle in Congress and were swiftly condemned.

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"These comments are abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse," Liz Cheney, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, tweeted.

Multiple Democrats also attacked Mr King. "FYI this is one reason you get bad search results when people type your name in Google," Congressman Ted Lieu tweeted.

Mr King later posted a statement online attempting to clarify his remarks.

"I reject those labels and the ideology they define," the politician said in reference to white nationalism and white supremacy.

He added: "It's true that like the Founding Fathers I am an advocate for Western Civilization's values, and that I profoundly believe that America is the greatest tangible expression of these ideals the world has ever seen.

"Under any fair political definition, I am simply a Nationalist."

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