WASHINGTON — The two top Republican leaders in Congress denounced Donald Trump on Tuesday for his slow-moving disavowal of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted Trump’s “seeming ambivalence about David Duke and the KKK” as Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., warned that anyone who wants the Republican presidential nomination must reject racism.
The rebuke of Trump came as voters went to the polls in 11 states in a Super Tuesday of balloting that many Republicans fear could give the combative and controversial New Yorker unstoppable momentum toward claiming the party’s presidential nod.
“This party does not prey on people’s prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the Party of Lincoln,” Ryan told reporters.
At the same time, Ryan reiterated that he will support the eventual Republican nominee.
Never mentioning Trump’s name, Ryan and McConnell were clearly referring to the billionaire businessman’s appearance Sunday on CNN when he declined to disavow the support of Duke and other white supremacists.
“Let me make it perfectly clear: Senate Republicans condemn David Duke, the KKK, and his racism,” McConnell said.
Duke served as a Republican in the Louisiana state legislature in the early 1990s.
“When I see something that runs counter to who we are as a party and a country I will speak up. So today I want to be very clear about something: If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry,” Ryan said.
Last year, Ryan and McConnell disavowed Trump’s plan to block Muslims from entering the U.S. Otherwise, they’ve tried to stay clear of commenting on the race.
Trump subsequently disavowed Duke, blaming his interview performance Sunday on a bad earpiece.
His two top rivals – Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas – criticized Trump and said the party must condemn white supremacists.
But House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi argued that “Trump’s radical agenda” reflects the House Republican conference. Pelosi said that while some in the GOP are distancing themselves from Trump, Republicans refused to remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds and have blocked renewal of the Voting Rights Act.
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