Trump surrogate calls Clinton's new campaign ad on race 'disgusting'

A Donald Trump surrogate on Thursday blasted a new Hillary Clinton campaign ad that tied Trump's campaign to racist groups and white nationalists.

Clinton's campaign on Thursday tweeted the ad, which featured people affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan pledging support for Trump and showed Trump campaign signs next to Confederate flags. Clinton's campaign said: "there's a reason the most hateful fringe of the right wing is supporting Donald Trump."

The Trump campaign later in the day released a scathing statement from the Rev. Mark Burns, a black pastor who endorsed Trump at the Republican National Convention.

"Hillary Clinton and her campaign went to a disgusting new low today as they released a video tying the Trump Campaign with horrific racial images," Burns said in the statement. "This type of rhetoric and repulsive advertising is revolting and completely beyond the pale. I call on Hillary Clinton to disavow this video and her campaign for this sickening act that has no place in our world."

The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Clinton was set to give a speech Thursday about the so-called "alt-right," a loose term for some on the political right who feel mainstream media and politics do not capture their views on things like race, gender and free speech.

Clinton has accused the Trump campaign of empowering white nationalists and sowing racial division with its rhetoric.