Hillary Clinton admonished rival Donald Trump on Thursday for claiming that she and Barack Obama were the founders of the Islamic State, saying anyone who would “sink so low” should never be president. In an interview with supporter and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, he was asked to clarify those remarks.
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The candidate is referring to the removal of troops from Iraq by the Obama administration after years of crisis following the invasion by American-led forces and the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime. I was against the war in Iraq. It was a frightful mistake – one of the worst mistakes in the history of our country.
He appeared to be referencing Obama’s Middle East policies, adding: “We unleashed fury all over the Middle East and it was a awful mistake”. Sykes-Picot represented western colonization of the region as it was responsible for establishing the Middle East’s present-day borders, thereby creating more feuds among different ethnic groups.
“Everyone’s liking it. I think they’re liking it”, Trump said.
At a raucous rally in Sunrise, Florida, the Republican presidential nominee repeatedly labeled Obama the “founder ” of the terrorist organization, using the acronym ISIS for the group. He also stood by his controversial Second Amendment remarks, denounced by Democrats as a call to violence against Hillary Clinton. “ISIS will hand [Clinton] the Most Valuable Player award, her only competition is Barack Obama”.
Trump seemed confused at the silent response by the anchors on The Squawk.
Seemingly confused that he would be questioned about the appropriateness of the comments, the NY businessman later asked: “Is there something wrong with saying that? Why?”
O’Donnell said, “In Trump world, President Obama and Secretary Clinton are the founding father and founding mother of the Islamic State”.
“I don’t care”, Trump said, according to a show transcript. Declare victory and leave, because I’ll tell you, this country is just going to get further bogged down. “All I do is tell the truth”.
“In many respects, you know, they honor President Obama”, Trump said at a rally in Florida.
“Last night, you said the president was the founder of ISIS”, Hewitt said. Republicans believe that the USA decision to leave Iraq in 2011 created a power vacuum that allowed al-Qaida in Iraq, a subsidiary of the larger terror group al-Qaida, to morph into the 30,000-strong Islamic State group that in 2014 seized a third of Syria and Iraq. “Therefore, he was the founder of ISIS”. He was the most valuable player. Many see the NY real estate mogul as spending too much time fighting within his own party and have called on him to refocus his campaign message on Clinton.
Hewitt: But he’s not sympathetic to them.
He argues that in trying to end the war and withdrawing USA troops in 2011, Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, and Obama created Islamic State. He was the founder.
Now we know that Obama didn’t technically “found” ISIS, but he created the environment for ISIS to be formed, and so did Hillary.
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The Clinton campaign condemned Trump’s comments as an example of his “trash-talking the United States”.
