Republicans
distanced themselves Wednesday from President Trump over his failure to
unambiguously condemn white supremacists during the presidential debate the
night before, as Mr. Trump faced a torrent of criticism including a rare rebuke
from the Senate’s top Republican.
The
president scrambled to defend himself on Wednesday afternoon, falsely
claiming that he had “always denounced any form” of white supremacy. And
after saying at the debate that the Proud Boys, a far-right group that has
endorsed violence, should “stand by,” Mr. Trump asserted on
Wednesday that he didn’t even know who the group is.
The
president’s continued efforts to sow doubts about the integrity of the vote,
both at the debate and on Wednesday, alarmed election-monitoring experts who
said that they feared that he was laying the groundwork to delegitimize the
election results. And his raucous, interruption-filled debate performance led
the Commission on Presidential Debates to say Wednesday that it would make changes to the format of this year’s remaining debates.
Taken
together, the developments suggested that the debate was shaking up the
campaign with a little over a month left until the election.
The
president’s comments on Wednesday came after Senator Tim Scott of South
Carolina, the chamber’s only Black Republican, said that “white supremacy
should be denounced at every turn. I think he misspoke, I think he should
correct it. If he doesn’t correct it I guess he didn’t misspeak.”
Senator
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader and a close ally of the
president’s, told reporters Wednesday that he agreed with Mr. Scott, sharply
rebuking Mr. Trump’s refusal to categorically denounce white supremacy during
the presidential debate Tuesday night.
“With
regard to the white supremacy issue, I want to associate myself with the
remarks of Tim Scott,” Mr. McConnell said. “He said it was unacceptable not to
condemn white supremacists and so I do so in the strongest possible way.”
Other
Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill largely sought to distance themselves from
the president’s remarks at the debate, and urged Mr. Trump to clearly denounce
white supremacy.
Senator
John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican, said Mr. Trump should “clear
it up.” Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, told reporters “he
should unequivocally condemn white supremacy.” Senator Susan Collins,
Republican of Maine, told reporters “it was the least educational debate of any
presidential debate I’ve ever seen” and said that Mr. Trump should “absolutely”
condemn white supremacy.
So on
Wednesday Mr. Trump addressed the issue, retreating from his debate night
comments that the Proud Boys, a far-right group that has endorsed violence,
should “stand by.” Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for a
campaign trip to Minnesota, he said: “I don’t know who Proud Boys are, but
whoever they are, they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work.”
But the
president once again quickly added that left-wing violence was “the real
problem” and falsely accused former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. of
refusing to say the words “law enforcement” during Tuesday night’s presidential
debate.
Mr.
Trump has often been criticized for failing to denounce racist, white
supremacist and violent right-wing groups. After a white nationalist rally in
Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 turned deadly, the president did not initially
specifically criticize white supremacists or the neo-Nazi slogans that were
chanted, blaming “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.”
And at
the debate on Tuesday, Mr. Trump diverted a question about whether he would
condemn white supremacists and militias into an attack on left-wing protesters.
“Are
you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to
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?” Chris
Wallace, the moderator, asked the president.
“Sure.
I’m willing to do that,” said Mr. Trump, but quickly added, “Almost everything
I see is from the left wing. Not from the right wing.”
When
Mr. Wallace pressed on, the president asked, “What do you want to call them?”
“White
supremacists and right-wing militias,” the moderator replied, as Joseph R.
Biden Jr. mentioned the Proud Boys, a far-right group that has endorsed
violence.
“Proud
Boys, stand back and stand by,” Mr. Trump said. “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll
tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left because
this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.”
When
Mr. Biden pointed out that Mr. Trump’s own F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray,
had said that antifa was an idea, not an organization, the president replied,
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.” (Mr. Wray also said this month that “racially
motivated violent extremism,” mostly from white supremacists, had made up a
majority of domestic terrorism threats.)
The
president’s words prompted celebration by members of the Proud Boys.
Mr.
McConnell said Wednesday that he didn’t believe any Republican Senators would
be hurt by Mr. Trump’s bombastic performance during last night’s presidential
debate.
“I
don’t know any of my colleagues who would have problems because of that,” Mr.
McConnell said.
— Michael D. Shear, Luke Broadwater, Michael Cooper and Emily Cochrane