The ghost of Rep. Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) political past made a surprise visit to the congressman’s political present on Monday, after reports began to swirl that the now–House Majority Whip once spoke at a conference hosted by a White supremacist group. On Monday afternoon, Scalise’s office confirmed to the Washington Post that the 48-year-old did speak at a White nationalist conference in 2002, while serving in the Louisiana statehouse, confirming the reporting by blogger Lamar White, Jr. on a local Louisiana politics blog.

The conference was hosted by the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. A series of comments on a White supremacist site also reference Scalise's attendance.