This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A white nationalist is once again supporting Donald Trump in a recorded call Utahns may receive in the next few days.

William Johnson, who leads the American Freedom Party, paid $2,000 for the call that attacks independent conservative Evan McMullin, who polls show is in a tight three-way race against the Republican presidential nominee and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Beehive State.

The call will go to about 193,600 landlines between Monday and Wednesday evening. In it, Johnson identifies himself as a farmer and white nationalist. He then criticizes McMullin for wanting to give legal status to many undocumented immigrants and goes after him personally.

Johnson notes McMullin's mother divorced his father and is now married to a woman and that McMullin is 40 and single. He calls McMullin a "closet homosexual."

McMullin has told The Salt Lake Tribune he cherishes marriage between a man and a woman, wants to marry and have children soon and is single only because he spent his 20s and early 30s in the CIA, often overseas.

"Don't vote for Evan McMullin. Vote for Donald Trump. He will respect all women and be a president we can all be proud of," Johnson says.

McMullin has attacked Trump as "a racist" and criticized Republicans for not abandoning the GOP nominee over comments ridiculing women, people of color and Muslims. He has made equality a pillar of his long-shot bid.

McMullin responded to the robocall on Twitter Monday afternoon.

Johnson sent a similar robocall to Utahns in March after Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, ripped Trump as a "fraud" and criticized him for not clearly denouncing racist leaders.

In that recorded call, Johnson said: "The white race is being replaced by other peoples in America and in all white countries. Donald Trump stands strong as a nationalist. Mitt Romney and the establishment conservatives pretend they don't care."

McMullin said he gets criticized and harassed online every day by white supremacists who support Trump.

"I'm happy to pay that price," he said.

Johnson said he believes the recorded call will blunt McMullin's gains and "help turn the tide" back to Trump in one of the nation's most reliably Republican states.

The most recent Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute poll had Trump at 32 percent, McMullin at 30 percent and Democrat Hillary Clinton in third, with 24 percent.

mcanham@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mattcanham