GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Monday he had disavowed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke “all weekend long” and that he thought he was getting asked about Mr. Duke “and other groups” in an interview a day earlier.
“Well, first of all he talked about David Duke and other groups,” Mr. Trump said Monday on NBC’s “Today” show.
“I know who he is, but I never met David Duke,” he said. “I disavowed David Duke a day before at a major press conference, and I’m saying to myself, how many times do I have to continue to disavow people and the question was asked about David Duke and various groups, and I don’t know who the groups are.”
“I said, would you do me a favor and tell me the groups,” he said.
Host Savannah Guthrie pointed out that Mr. Trump had been asked specifically about Mr. Duke and the Ku Klux Klan on at least one occasion on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
“Honestly, I don’t know David Duke. I don’t believe I have ever met him. I’m pretty sure I didn’t meet him. And I just don’t know anything about him,” Mr. Trump said Sunday.
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“I’m sitting in a house in Florida with a very bad earpiece that they gave me, and you could hardly hear what he was saying, but what I heard was various groups, and I don’t mind disavowing anybody, and I disavow[ed] David Duke, and I disavowed him the day before at a major news conference,” Mr. Trump said Monday. “CNN was at the major news conference, and they heard me very easily disavow David Duke.
“Now I go and I sit down again, I have a lousy earpiece that is provided by them, and frankly, he talked about groups — he also talked about groups,” Mr. Trump said. “I have no problem with disavowing groups, but I at least like to know who they are.”
“But I disavowed David Duke,” he said. “If you look on Facebook right after that, I also disavowed David Duke. When we looked at it and looked at the question, I disavowed David Duke. So I’ve disavowed David Duke all weekend long, on Facebook, on Twitter, and obviously it’s never enough.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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