Trump says he predicted terrorist attack and criticizes Clinton and Obama

3:57 P.M.

Trump says he predicted terrorist attack and criticizes Clinton and Obama

Christi Parsons

Donald Trump on Sunday criticized President Obama and Hillary Clinton for refusing to “even say the words ‘radical Islam’” in response to the mass shooting in Orlando and called on both of them to step out of their public roles as a result.

The presumptive Republican nominee also said he predicted the attack was going to happen, raising anew his controversial ideas about blocking immigration from the Middle East.

“Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen, and it is only going to get worse,” Trump said in a statement released Sunday afternoon.

“I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack. We can’t afford to be politically correct anymore.”

The statement displayed a marked contrast with Clinton’s response to the attack. She postponed a planned joint campaign appearance with Obama that had been scheduled for Wednesday. Trump went on the attack.

Clinton “wants to dramatically increase admissions from the Middle East, bringing in many hundreds of thousands during a first term,” Trump said. “And we will have no way to screen them, pay for them, or prevent the second generation from radicalizing.”

As president, he said, he would “protect and defend all Americans.”

Trump did not explicitly repeat his controversial past statement that he would ban Muslims from entering the U.S., but rather complained that “since 9/11, hundreds of migrants and their children have been implicated in terrorism in the United States.”

The suspected Orlando mass murderer, he said, is the son of an immigrant from Afghanistan who “openly published his support for the Afghanistan Taliban.” He quoted a poll from the Pew Research Center that he said showed that “99% of people in Afghanistan support oppressive Sharia law.”

Trump said he would deliver what he described as a major speech to further address this terrorist attack as well as the subjects of immigration and national security Monday at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.

That’s a change of plan. The speech had originally been scheduled to be an attack on Bill and Hillary Clinton’s record in public life.