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The Proud Boys is a far-right anti-immigrant group with a history of violence
US President Donald Trump has condemned all white supremacist groups following controversy over comments he made during the first presidential debate.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, he explicitly condemned the group Proud Boys, which in the debate had urged “to back off and stay out of it.”
Members of the far-right group viewed his comment as endorsement.
Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden had accused the president of refusing to repudiate white supremacists.
Senior Republicans also voiced their displeasure at the comments, and Trump’s attempts to retract the comments at a press conference on Wednesday failed to end the controversy.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Thursday night, President Trump said, “I’ve said it many times, let me be clear again, I condemn the KKK. [Ku Klux Klan]. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys.
“I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn it.”
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During Tuesday’s debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked if the president would condemn white supremacists and tell them to stand down during the protests.
When Trump asked who he was being told to condemn, Biden twice said “Proud Boys,” referring to the far-right anti-immigrant group with a history of violence against left-wing opponents.
The president said, “Proud Boys, back up and wait. But I’ll tell you what … someone has to do something about Antifa. [anti-fascist activists] and to the left because this is not a right-wing problem. “
After his refusal to explicitly condemn far-right groups drew criticism, Trump tried to qualify his comments during an exchange with reporters on the White House lawn Wednesday.
He said he didn’t know who the proud boys were.
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He did not clarify his use of “wait” in the debate, but said he wanted to “let the police do their job.”
During his tenure, President Trump has been accused of emboldening far-right groups with his rhetoric and at the same time being more willing to openly condemn those on the far-left.
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The tone and tactics of the first presidential debate were widely criticized.
Candidates were given two minutes to answer the moderator’s questions before being allowed to address the response of the others.
However, President Trump constantly interrupted Biden, prompting a series of chaotic exchanges in which both men talked to each other.
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a non-partisan body that has organized presidential debates since 1988, has since said that it will announce new measures to help moderators “maintain order” in the remaining two debates.
