Trump refuses to condemn Ku Klux Klan

US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has refused to repudiate the Ku Klux Klan or disavow endorsements by its former members.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Trump said he knew nothing about the white supremacist group and its former leader David Duke that has endorsed the real estate mogul’s campaign.

Duke told his followers earlier this week that voting for anyone but Trump amounts to “treason to your heritage.”

“Well, just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK? I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists,” Trump said. “I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists.”

The New York businessman said he would first need to “do research” about the group before rejecting their support.

This is while according to the New York Times, Trump had spoken about Duke in 2000, referring to him as a Klansman. “The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani,” Trump said at the time. “This is not company I wish to keep.”

Being one of the oldest and most infamous hate groups in the US, the Ku Klux Klan has targeted African Americans, Jews, Catholics and immigrants, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which studies hate groups.

On Saturday, at least three Klansmen were stabbed, one critically, during an anti-immigrant rally organized by the KKK in Anaheim, Southern California.

Trump has so far won states of South Carolina, Nevada, and New Hampshire in primary votes, while finishing second in Iowa. The candidate is gearing up for the so-called Super Tuesday, the day on which several states hold primary elections.

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