The Republican consultant apparatus has launched a last second smear campaign against Kansas Secretary of State and populist conservative gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach.

Topeka Capitol-Journal reporter Sherman Smith published a piece where he writes that two anonymous “GOP insiders” claim the Kobach campaign has “white nationalists” on the payroll despite no verified evidence for the accusation.

The consultants’ claim, reported by Smith, accuses Kobach staffers Kurtis Engel, Collin Gustin and Michael Pyles as being members of an organization called the American Heritage Initiative.

The Kobach campaign says the staffers are not members of the organization and that two of the staffers are actually members of the conservative Christian group, the American Heartland Institute. Both groups share the same “AHI” initials.

In a statement to Breitbart News, Kobach’s spokeswoman Danedri Herbert said Smith was eager to run the accusatory story in the Capitol-Journal days before Kobach’s August 7 GOP primary election.

“The reporter was in an all-fire rush to get the story out,” Herbert told Breitbart News. “I warned him that his evidence was flimsy, that I couldn’t find any information about the apparently non-existent group anywhere online and that our staff had never heard of it. He ran it anyway.”

In emails released to Breitbart News between the Capitol-Journal reporter and the Kobach campaign, Herbert asks “Do you have any proof, other than some source…” to which Smith says, “I asked the individuals for comment and none responded.”

The Kobach campaign, though, says the three staffers cannot speak for themselves because they work for the campaign. On Monday, Kobach was endorsed by President Trump, to whom he had previously served as an immigration and voter fraud adviser.

https://twitter.com/KrisKobach1787/status/1026569617219743744

As Breitbart News reported, the Republican establishment has attempted to thwart Kobach’s gubernatorial campaign in Kansas, most recently having former presidential candidate Bob Dole endorse establishment-aligned Gov. Jeff Colyer (R).

The push against Kobach by the Republican establishment is the second attempt by outside groups to thwart his campaign. As Breitbart News exclusively reported, the pro-open borders ACLU called voters across Kansas to warn them against voting for Kobach.

Billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation provides the ACLU with enormous amounts of funding every year to promote open borders and, most recently, sue Trump’s administration for their “zero tolerance” policy at the U.S.-Mexico border.