And for the second time in the presidential campaign, Trump is again raising the specter of violence against Clinton, this time joking about disarming her Secret Service agents.
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“I think what we should do is she goes around with armed bodyguards, like you have never seen before”.
“Take their guns away”, he continued. “She doesn’t want guns … let’s see what happens to her. Take their guns away, OK? Okay? It would be very risky”.
During a week of flubs last month, the Republican nominee made a similar comment in which he said “Second Amendment people” could do something if Clinton as president appointed Supreme Court Justices.
Trump was referencing Clinton’s stance on gun control, which he has boiled down to the overly simplistic view, “She doesn’t want guns”. I don’t believe any of the supporters I know are in Clinton’s category of “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it”. “That will be a terrible day”.
On Friday night, Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, released a statement to media saying Trump has shown “a pattern of inciting people to violence”.
In his brief remarks, Trump leveled the accusation – which his supporters have been pressing for weeks – that Clinton first raised doubts about Obama’s birthplace during the Democratic contest eight years ago. Clinton lives “behind gates and walls and guards” while raising money from hedge funds, he said.
“There were those who questioned and continue to question for the past eight years up through this very day whether my husband was even born in this country”, she said.
“Immediately, what do you think, yes, yeah, take their guns away, she doesn’t want guns”, exclaimed Trump.
Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. “They should disarm”, he said, according to CNN video.
A Secret Service spokeswoman declined to comment.
But Mr Trump also falsely accused Hillary Clinton’s team of starting the so-called “birther” campaign in 2008.
“The next president of the United States must stand in solidarity with all people oppressed in our hemisphere, and we will stand with oppressed people, and there are many”, he said.
As late as Wednesday, Trump was refusing to acknowledge Obama was born in Hawaii, saying in an interview that he’d “answer that question at the right time”.
At first, the president said he was “shocked” that a question had come up when “we have so many other things to do”.
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Photo caption: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the James L. Knight Center, Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, in Miami.
