Pastor dropped from McCain team after Hitler remarks

Republican presidential candidate John McCain rejected the months-old endorsement of an influential Texas televangelist after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.

“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend (John) Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,” the presidential candidate said in a statement issued today.