Gaetz echoes Trump’s Proud Boys call to ‘stand back and stand by’ amid courthouse appearance
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) echoed former President Trump’s infamous 2020 call for the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” in a statement from the Manhattan courthouse on Thursday.
“Standing back and standing by, Mr. President,” Gaetz wrote in a post on X, along with a photo of himself donning a red tie and suit in the background, while the foreground featured a blurred-out image of Trump.
Trump was asked during a presidential debate with President Biden in 2020 whether he would denounce violence from white supremacy groups. He dodged the question, but after Biden mentioned the far-right group, Trump said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
Trump was immediately eviscerated by Democrats for making those comments, while the Proud Boys group celebrated Trump’s remark – sharing a new logo online that included the phrase, “stand back and stand by.”
The Hill has reached out to Gaetz’s office for comment on his post.
Gaetz was among the cast of Republican lawmakers who attended the Manhattan criminal trial this week in a show of support for the former president.
Gaetz on Thursday joined GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Mike Waltz (Fla.) and Eli Crane (Ariz.) in the courtroom, while Reps. Andy Ogles (Tenn.) Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (Va.) at the Manhattan courthouse.
Boebert and Gaetz were spotted sitting in the first row of the gallery, next to Eric Trump and the former president’s Secret Service agents. Good was also seen seated in the first row, on the other side of Trump’s security detail.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over an alleged repayment scheme to Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-fixer, who had paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump denies the affair, says there was no wrongdoing with the payments and has pleaded not guilty.