U.S. Sen. Tim Scott said he believes President Donald Trump “misspoke” during a debate Tuesday night when he told a right-wing extremist group to “stand down and stand by.”
After an in-person meeting with Judge Amy Coney Barrett Wednesday morning, Scott was questioned by a reporter about Trump’s refusal to denounce groups stirring racial violence.
“White supremacy should be denounced at every turn,” Scott said, according to CNBC. “I think the president misspoke, and he needs to correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak.”
During the debate, Fox News moderator Chris Wallace pushed Trump to take a stand, asking, “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?”
As Trump negotiated his reaction with Wallace — “Give me a name, give me a name, who would you like me to condemn?” — Biden suggested the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group involved with the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Wallace suggested, “White supremacists and right-wing militias.”
“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said, shifting the conversation to liberal anti-fascist groups.
In response, the group’s leaders celebrated the call-out, seeming to take the directions as marching orders.
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