Washington – U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Sunday that Democrat Hillary Clinton was a “liar” for claiming that his proposal to ban entry of all foreign Muslims into the United States has aided Islamic State’s propaganda efforts.
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Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said Clinton had no evidence to back up a charge she made during a debate on Saturday that the Republican frontrunner is becoming the extremist group’s “best recruiter.”
“She’s a liar and everybody knows that,” Trump said. “She just made this up in thin air.”
Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States following a Jan. 2 attack in San Bernardino, California that killed 14 people has drawn widespread criticism from Republican rivals as well as Democrats like Clinton.
During Saturday night’s Democratic debate, Clinton said Islamic State is using Trump’s rhetoric to enlist fighters to radical jihad.
“They are going to people, showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists,” the Democratic frontrunner said.
Counterterrorism experts and Reuters reporters who monitor Islamist online activity have found no evidence so far that Islamic State has mentioned Trump in its official online accounts.
Asked to comment on Sunday, the Clinton campaign did not respond to Trump’s charge but reiterated that Hillary Clinton’s remark was based on evidence that supporters of the extremist group frequently cite Trump’s comments to make the case that Americans hate Muslims.
It quoted a counterterrorism expert and linked to a tweet from a “very vocal ISIS supporter.”
For Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, that’s enough to indicate that Trump is helping, not hurting, the jihadist group.
“That’s the interpretation we made,” Podesta said on “Meet the Press,” adding “I think it’s a very fair charge.”
Counterterrorism experts say it is nearly impossible to keep track of the torrent of online activity being generated by Islamic State and its sympathizers.
“There are very few analysts who have watched all of IS’s videos,” said counterterrorism analyst Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. “That being said, I believe Hillary Clinton’s claim was false.”
Still, Trump’s comments make it harder for the United States to build good will among Muslim populations and make him complicit in Islamic State mobilization efforts, said Democratic strategist Bud Jackson.
“Donald Trump is in essence aiding and abetting the enemy with his comments. He’s making things worse, not better. There’s no denying that,” he said.
He’s right, go trump and rand Paul.
“[The Clinton campaign] quoted a counterterrorism expert”,
– who is most likely Rita Katz and her SETI group. She’s one of the “goto” folk by the people who insist there are Arab and Muslim and Persian terrorists under every mattress.
Ah, here’s the NY Times “fact check”:
“The Clinton campaign pointed to comments by Rita Katz, the director of the SITE Intelligence Group, who was quoted by NBC News this month saying that Islamic terrorist groups “love him from the sense that he is supporting their rhetoric.””
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/fact-check.html#/factcheck-41
We have to fear insulting or hurting the feelings of muslims, as they may want to kill us for that reason?They have no problem killing innocent people when they are feeling slighted.This is what hillary is saying. After murdering innocent people we have to be careful not to insult them.
Although I think Clinton is a misfit for the job of president, T rump is obviously not the person we need as president. Anyone who dares disagree with him will be cursed and slandered in public in one of his displays of poor statesman abilities…
Hillary’s is a congenital liar.
NY times article forgot year google it.
If I were a Moslem I’d be incited by Trumps comments and if
I were a Mexican I would refuse to work on building the Trump wall. He’s counting on the fact that few Moslems or Mexicans vote in Iowa or New Hampshire.
Well well well, so Hilary lied again! No surprise there…after Beghazi, the emails, and the rest, plus her lying husband’s coaching….now let’s see if the mainstream media will treat this the same way they got on Trump’s case to prove his true claim that Muslims in America celebrated after 9/11! But don’t bet on it.,.,this story will be buried and forgotten about by the liberal biased press, the dem/liberal party, and Hilary’s dishonest and hypocritical supporters. I hope Trump keeps hammering away at this and challenges her over and over to prove it, until she’s forced to apologize! Go Trump! Go Hilary—straight to prison!