SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — A national security contributor to NBC News says President Trump’s call to re-raise American flags on August 8th could be perceived as a sign of white supremacy.

The President ordered flags lowered to half-mast following weekend shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio. An act that often follows a national tragedy or the death of a prominent American.

Frank Figluizzi was making an appearance on “The 11th Hour” on MSNBC Tuesday night when he made the claim.

The former FBI assistant director of counterintelligence told host Brian Williams that the numbers 8-8 are significant to the “neo-Nazi and white supremacist movement”.

His explanation. “Because the letter ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and to them the numbers 88 together stand for ‘Heil Hitler.’ So we’re going to be raising the flag back up at dusk on 8/8.”

Figluizzi went on to say he’s not implying the President did this deliberately but “using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary that’s being demonstrated by the White House.”

Many think he’s on something…but others believe…..he may be on to something.

The Anti-Defamation League’s website has information backing his claim that 88 is a white supremacist numerical code. They state that 8-3 is a hate symbol as well.

The date of the El Paso massacre? 8-3.

Other numbers the ADL says are tied to hate groups include 12, 13, 14, 18, 23, 3-1-1, 2-1-1, 43 and other numerical variations.

“No one’s thinking about this, no one’s giving him (Trump) the advice, or he’s rejecting the advice.”

Figluizzi went on to say he’s not implying the President did this deliberately but he was “using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary that’s being demonstrated by the White House.”

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