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Donald Trump
Photo: Julio Cortez / AP
US President Donald Trump has backed off after his harshly criticized call to a right-wing radical group to "stand by".
"You have to withdraw and let the police do their job," Trump said on Wednesday in Washington.
At the same time, the President asserted that he did not know the violent group "Proud Boys", whom he had mentioned by name the previous evening: "I don't know who the Proud Boys are."
When asked by a reporter whether he condemned "white supremacists" - right-wing extremists who are convinced of the supremacy of whites - Trump said: "I have always condemned every form (...), every form of such a thing."
He did not use the word "White Supremacists".
Trump had turned directly to the right-wing radical group on Tuesday evening in a TV duel with his election challenger Joe Biden: "Proud Boys - hold back and be ready."
The president responded to the moderator's question as to whether he was ready to distance himself from racist groups - and triggered outraged reactions from civil rights activists, among others.
What exactly the "Proud Boys" (German, for example, proud boys or proud guys) should be "ready" for, Trump left open.
The words uttered on Tuesday evening ("stand back and stand by") are very similar in English to the phrase Trump used on Wednesday ("stand down") to urge right-wing groups to step back and let the police do their job .
On the fringes of anti-racism protests in recent months, there have been repeated violent clashes between demonstrators and the police - and violent clashes between right-wing groups and left-wing activists, including those from the anti-fascist anti-fascist movement.
In the past few years, Trump has repeatedly refused to distance himself clearly from racist groups.
On Wednesday, the right-wing populist president said to a journalist question that he had always "condemned every form of it".
He then immediately criticized the Antifa again, which he had regularly blamed for violence on the fringes of the Black Lives Matter protests in recent months.
Critics accuse Trump of deliberately fueling tensions in the country ahead of the presidential election on November 3rd.
Observers warn of possible violence by right-wing armed militias if the incumbent loses the election and does not acknowledge defeat.
In polls, Trump has been behind his challenger Biden from the opposition Democrats for months.
"I think he was very weak"
Trump also declared himself the winner of the first debate before the presidential election on Wednesday.
"We easily won the debate last night by any yardstick," said the Republican in the garden of the White House.
Looking at Biden - who is running for the Democrats on November 3rd - Trump said, "I think he was very weak. He looked weak, he whined."
Trump said he would also have the next two TV debates against Biden.
If his challenger does not want to participate, that is his decision.
Trump said he saw "about six" polls that saw him as the winner of the debate.
It was unclear which surveys he was referring to.
In some Twitter polls - which are considered unreliable without a scientific basis - Trump was ahead.
In lightning polls by the broadcasters CBS and CNN, however, a majority considered Biden to be more successful in the debate than Trump.
Biden described Trump's appearance in the TV duel as "an embarrassment for the country".
Trump tried everything to distract for 90 minutes, Biden told journalists on Wednesday in Alliance in the US state of Ohio.
The Republican had interrupted Biden during the debate on Tuesday night (local time) and had attacked him personally.
"Trump has no plan, no ideas," said Biden.
When asked what he was saying to undecided voters who had seen the debate and had had enough of the politics, the Democrat said, "I can understand."
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hen / AFP / dpa