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(Reuters) – President Donald Trump said Thursday that he condemned all white supremacists, including the “Proud Boys,” an organization identified as a hate group, and retracted comments he made this week that were deemed to be they emboldened the group.
“I condemn all white supremacists, I condemn the Proud Boys. I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, but I condemn it,” Trump told Fox News in an interview.
During the first presidential debate with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday, Trump was asked if he was willing to denounce “white supremacists and militia groups” and tell them to stand down amid the violence that has clouded the protests. against racism in some American cities.
Trump asked for a specific name, and Biden mentioned the Proud Boys, an organization that describes itself as a club of “Western chauvinists” but has been categorized as a hate group by the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center. .
“Proud guys, stand back and wait,” Trump said. The comment drew widespread criticism and was viewed by many as a sign of encouragement for the group.
Shortly after Trump made the comment in the debate, Proud Boys member Joe Biggs celebrated the group’s mention on social media platform Parler, saying, “President Trump told the proud boys to wait for someone needs to deal with ANTIFA … well sir! we are ready !! “
Antifa is a largely unstructured far-left movement whose supporters broadly aim to confront those they consider authoritarian or racist. Trump asked Biden to convict Antifa.
On Wednesday, Trump began the process of rolling back what he said in the debate. “I don’t know who the Proud Boys are,” he told reporters at the White House. “They have to stand down. Let law enforcement do their job.”
The president has a long history of making comments that his critics consider racist or supportive of racist groups.
In 2017, he said that “both sides” were to blame for violence between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia. He later tried to back up the comments.
(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; edited by Shri Navaratnam and William Mallard)
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