Trump campaign blames 'database error' after white-nationalist leader included among California delegates

Turmoil over Donald Trump's apparent white-nationalist support base doesn't seem to be going away easily.

Months after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee first caught flak for being noncommittal about disavowing the support of David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump is again forced to separate himself from his controversial constituency.

California's secretary of state on Monday published a list of delegates provided by the Trump campaign. Among the 169 names listed was William Johnson, a noted white nationalist, and leader of the American Freedom Party.

The Trump campaign issued a statement blaming a "database error" for Johnson's inclusion.

In a statement, the campaign said Johnson "had been rejected and removed from the campaign's list in February 2016."

The American Freedom Party, which describes itself as one that "represents the interests and issues of European-Americans," also describes the Democratic and Republican parties as "more alike than they are different."

Donald Trump is running on the Republican ticket.

The frontrunner's candidacy has, at times, been overshadowed by his broad support among white nationalists. Johnson's American Freedom Party has spent thousands of dollars on pro-Trump robocalls that make pronouncements like "We don't need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture."

Trump has proposed temporary bans on Muslims entering the US.

Trump previously disavowed white-nationalist support in television interviews and, in one case, blamed "a very bad earpiece" for not doing it sooner.

Here's the full statement from the Trump campaign:

Yesterday the Trump campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California. A database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaign's list in February 2016.