Enrique Tarrio, the Florida state director of Latinos for Trump, a national grass-roots organization unaffiliated with the Trump campaign, is also the chairman of the Proud Boys, a far-right organization linked with white supremacy and acts of violence.
Mr. Tarrio said in an interview Thursday night that he had “personally knocked on 40,000 doors for the president” and was a close personal friend of Roger J. Stone Jr., a former presidential adviser.
When he was asked at the presidential candidates’ debate on Tuesday to denounce the Proud Boys, the president said, “stand back and stand by.” Mr. Tarrio said he did not interpret Mr. Trump’s comments as a call to arms: “What I took from it personally was to stand by him.” Continue reading.