By Bronte Price, PoliticKING
Trump claimed not to know anything about Duke in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper over the weekend. When asked whether or not he disavows David Duke’s vote and that of other white supremacists in this election, Trump responded, “Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke. I don’t know anything you’re talking about with white-supremacy or white-supremacists. So I don’t know.” Throughout the interview, Trump continued to insist that he didn’t know anything about David Duke or white supremacy.
The question came after David Duke voiced his support for Trump in a Facebook post a day before. "I think he deserves a close look by those who believe the era of political correctness needs to come to an end," Duke wrote.
Trump’s failure to disavow the former “grand wizard” of the Klu Klux Klan caused a large amount of outrage over the weekend. Trump, who is now trying to clean up the mess, blamed the incident on a bad earpiece. "I was sitting in a house in Florida, with a bad earpiece," Trump told NBC's "Today" show. "I could hardly hear what he's saying. I hear various groups. I don't mind disavowing anyone. I disavowed Duke the day before at a major conference."
Really sad. @realDonaldTrump you're better than this. We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent. https://t.co/dn2D74c5dl
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 28, 2016
Trump's comments came just two days before Super Tuesday, in which 12 mostly southern states vote in the primaries. If Trump is able to defeat Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in most or all of those states, he could almost guarantee himself the Republican nomination.
Other candidates, both Democrat and Republican spoke out against Trump’s slip-up following the interview. Bernie Sanders tweeted, "America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK."
America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 28, 2016
Marco Rubio slammed Trump in a Virginia rally, pointing out that Trump did, in fact, know of David Duke prior to the interview. "We cannot be the party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan," Rubio said.
Here’s what Anthony Weiner has to say about Trump:
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