Tim Scott: Trump ‘misspoke’ with white supremacy remark, should correct Proud Boys comment

Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), the only Black GOP senator, said Wednesday that President Trump should “correct” his comments from the first presidential debate, where he refused to condemn white supremacists.

“I think he misspoke in response to Chris Wallace’s comment. … I think he misspoke, I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak,” Scott said, when asked by ABC News if he found Trump’s remarks concerning.

Asked directly to denounce white supremacists and militia groups who have aligned themselves with him, Trump instead argued that “almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.”

Trump’s refusal to denounce white supremacists at Tuesday night’s debate sparked immediate backlash from Democrats and was touted by far-right groups online.

Republican senators, asked on Wednesday about the president’s rhetoric, sought to distance themselves. Trump’s comments are the latest example of him overshadowing what Republicans would rather be talking about — the Supreme Court nomination.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, told reporters on Wednesday that “of course” Trump should have denounced white supremacists during the debate.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) added that Trump should have been “very clear.”

“He should have made it very clear that there’s no room for people on the far left or the far more far right. When it comes to either an antifa or these white supremacist groups, should have been very clear,” Rounds told reporters.