In a statement, Scalise communications director Moira Smith said the congressman has no ties to the "abhorrent group in question." She said the 2002 speech came as Scalise was barnstorming his district to discuss a ballot initiative he opposed. The appearance was first reported on Sunday on CenLamar.com, a Louisiana politics blog run by Lamar White Jr.

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"Throughout his career in public service, Mr. Scalise has spoken to hundreds of different groups with a broad range of viewpoints. In every case, he was building support for his policies, not the other way around," Smith said. "In 2002, he made himself available to anyone who wanted to hear his proposal to eliminate slush funds that wasted millions of taxpayer dollars as well as his opposition to a proposed tax increase on middle-class families."

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"He has never been affiliated with the abhorrent group in question," she said. "The hate-fueled ignorance and intolerance that group projects is in stark contradiction to what Mr. Scalise believes and practices as a father, a husband and a devoted Catholic."

A source close to Scalise acknowledged the speech likely happened, but said the then-Louisiana state representative -- who at the time only had one staffer -- wasn't aware that the innocuously named organization was a white supremacist group. Had he known its affiliation, the source said, he would not have spoken before its members.

"He has never affiliated with a white supremacist group," the source said. "He doesn't have hate in his heart the way that these disgusting people do."