‘I don’t know who the Proud Boys are': Trump still refuses to condemn the far-right group

President Trump tried to distance himself from the Proud Boys on Wednesday, as outrage mounted on both sides of the aisle over his debate shout-out to the far-right extremist group.

Speaking to reporters at the White House before a campaign trip to Minnesota, Trump claimed his Proud Boys reference during Tuesday night’s chaotic presidential debate was not intended as an endorsement.

However, he still wouldn’t denounce the far-right organization, which has an extensive record of racism and violent crimes.

“I don’t know who the Proud Boys are,” Trump said. “I really don’t know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work ... Whoever they are, they have to stand down."

Despite Trump’s newfound ignorance of the Proud Boys, he appeared to be at least somewhat acquainted with the group during Tuesday night’s unwieldy debate with Joe Biden.

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said after moderator Chris Wallace asked why he regularly refuses to disavow violence when it’s committed by his far-right supporters. “But I’ll tell you what ... This is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.”

Roger Stone, a longtime Trump pal who recently got his prison sentence commuted by the president, is tight with the Proud Boys and has been pictured with its members at several political rallies.

Despite his loyalty to Trump, Stone declined Wednesday afternoon to back up the president’s alleged ignorance of the Proud Boys and diverted attention to Biden instead.

“I am far more concerned with Joe Biden’s assertion that ANTIFA is an ideology and not a well funded, well-organized terrorist group,” Stone told the Daily News in an email, referring to the loosely-organized left-wing movement.

The Proud Boys are infamous for stoking violence at protests and its members have marched alongside white supremacists and neo-Nazis. The group’s founder, Gavin McInnes, has a history of anti-Semitism and racism, including once claiming that Jews have a “whiny paranoid fear of Nazis.”

Proud Boys adherents were ecstatic after Trump’s debate comments. “This makes me so happy,” Joe Biggs, a leader of the group, wrote on the far-right chat forum Parler.

Trump’s Proud Boys name-check was not as well received on Capitol Hill.

“I think he should correct it," said South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the upper chamber.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) agreed.

“He needs to be clear about his stand against white supremacy. It’s important. I said that over and over again and I think he needs to clarify that,” Fischer told reporters.

Democrats were less parsed in their Proud Boys pushback.

“He’s just afraid to confront them," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat. "I’m afraid he believes they’re his followers and he doesn’t want to make them angry before an election.”

With Michael McAuliff