
Members of the Proud Boys, including leader Enrique Tarrio, second from left, rally with right-wing demonstrators in Portland, Ore., on Saturday. During Tuesday night’s debate, President Trump didn’t condemn white supremacist groups and their role in violence this summer. Instead, he said the violence is a “left-wing” problem and told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
(John Locher / Associated Press)
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President Trump on Tuesday again refused to condem white supremacists and nationalist groups. When asked during his debate with Joe Biden to disavow the Proud Boys, an extremist right-wing organization with an ardent following in Oregon, the president said the group should “stand back and stand by.” The group’s leadership regarded the comments, which Trump sought to walk back Wednesday, as an endorsement similar to the one he gave white supremacists who who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.

People take a knee as an organizer reads a prayer to the crowd of several hundred gathered during a Proud Boys rally at Delta Park in Portland, Ore., on Saturday.
(Maranie R. Staab / AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the Proud Boys lead a prayer at a right-wing rally Saturday in Portland.
(Maranie R. Staab / AFP/Getty Images)

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, right, embraces a fellow member during a Saturday rally in Portland. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency in anticipation of potential violence between the Proud Boys and anti-racism, anti-fascist protesters.
(Nathan Howard / Getty Images)

A man hold his hand to his heart during the Proud Boys rally at Delta Park in Portland.
(Maranie R. Staab / AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators march across the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland in 2019. The group includes organizer Joe Biggs, center in green hat, and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, holding megaphone.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press )

Joseph Oakman and fellow Proud Boys members plant a flag in Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park in 2019.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press )

A member of the Proud Boys gestures into the face of a counter-protester in Portland.
(John Locher / Associated Press)

Members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators rally Saturday in Portland.
(John Locher / Associated Press)

A couple pose with a Trump flag during the Proud Boys rally in Portland.
(Maranie R. Staab / AFP/Getty Images)

Several hundred members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators gather in Portland.
(Maranie R. Staab / AFP/Getty Images)

A man holds a Gadsden flag in the shape of Oregon during the Proud Boys rally in Portland.
(Maranie R. Staab / AFP/Getty Images)

Demonstrators raise flags during the Proud Boys rally in Portland.
(Maranie R. Staab / AFP/Getty Images)
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