FLORIDA (IINA) – Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump roiled the US presidential campaign once again, by claiming on Wednesday that President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton “founded” the IS group.
Addressing supporters at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the real estate tycoon said the group is “honoring President Obama”.
“He is the founder of ISIS,” Trump said, using a term for IS. “He’s the founder of ISIS, okay?” he added. “He’s the founder! He founded ISIS.”
“And I would say, the co-founder would be ‘Crooked Hillary Clinton’,” Trump shouted, over cheers and applause from the crowd, Middle East Eye (MEE) and agencies reported.
It was the latest disquieting utterance from the billionaire, who just one day earlier made comments interpreted by many as inviting gun violence against Clinton, the Democrats’ presidential nominee.
Trump appeared to suggest on Tuesday, possibly in jest, that Clinton or her Supreme Court nominees could be shot, as a way of preventing her from making judicial appointments if she wins the November presidential election.
The former secretary of State on Wednesday sternly rebuked Republican presidential rival’s “casual inciting” of violence, saying he had “crossed the line”.
“Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments by Donald Trump that crossed the line,” Clinton told a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
Meanwhile, Clinton was enduring a fresh round of criticism over her emails from her time as secretary of state, which have been a thorn in her side and hurt her trustworthiness among voters.
Conservative watchdog Judicial Watch released a batch of emails that raise questions about the State Department’s relationship with the Clinton Foundation.
The Trump campaign seized on the latest emails to blast Clinton as “corrupt,” with critics saying the messages showed the foundation sought improper preferential treatment from the department.
