“I had a very sophisticated medical doctor in Des Moines write me two days ago and say he sent a thousand dollar check to Trump”.
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Obama did not explicitly link the attack to Islamic State militants who have been connected to other recent attacks around the globe, saying that the details were not yet clear.
“I haven’t made my final, final decision”, Trump said on Fox News Channel.
“It’s not that Islamists are necessarily evil, but they’re not necessarily a religion of peace”, Gingrich said.
According to the Republican familiar with the process, the frenetic day was made more complicated by the fact that Trump was in California for a series of fundraisers, isolated from almost all of his closest advisers, including his three adult children and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. The remarks from the former House Speaker came after a terrorist attack in Nice, France that left 84 people dead on Thursday night.
“When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggests that American Muslims be subjected to Inquisition-style religious test and then expelled from their homes and nation, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awaid said, “he plays into the hands of terror recruiters and betrays the American values he purports to uphold”. He called him a change agent who effectively guts his political rivals: “He’s the grizzly bear in the room”.
Trump announced his decision on Twitter Friday morning, capping a frenzied 24 hours of speculation about his choice.
Gingrich and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday evening.
Trump offered the vice presidential spot to Pence Thursday, and the governor boarded a plane for NY in anticipation of a Friday announcement, according to a Republican with knowledge of the process. He also held a midnight conference call with his top aides to discuss the situation, according to two people with knowledge of the call.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, strongly rejected suggestions that the candidate considered changing his mind about Pence.
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But as of Friday afternoon, Gingrich had yet to share his support with Trump himself. AP writers Julie Bykowicz and Ken Thomas Washington, Jon Lemire and Jill Colvin in NY and Alan Fram and Steve Peoples in Cleveland contributed.
