Clinton condemns attack, plans speech on terrorism for Monday
Hillary Clinton on Sunday pronounced the Orlando mass shooting an “act of terror” and said the country should “redouble our efforts to defend our country from threats at home and abroad.”
“That means defeating international terror groups, working with allies and partners to go after them wherever they are, countering their attempts to recruit people here and everywhere, and hardening our defenses at home,” she said in a statement released mid-afternoon.
Unlike her Republican rival Donald Trump, the presumptive Democratic nominee described the attack as an act of hate and cited it as a reason to change gun laws.
She would fight for the rights of LGBT people to “live freely, openly and without fear,” she said. “Hate has absolutely no place in America.”
“We need to keep guns like the ones used last night out of the hands of terrorists or other violent criminals,” she added.
Clinton’s primary focus, however, was on national security, likely reflecting an awareness that Trump plans to go hard in attacking the Obama administration’s handling of national security and, by extension, her role as a key official in the administration.
Clinton plans a speech on how to address terrorism and hate in Cleveland on Monday, aides said.
“This is a time to stand together and resolve to do everything we can to defend our communities and country,” she said in her statement.
Trump says he predicted terrorist attack and criticizes Clinton and Obama
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.
Sanders and Clinton to meet to discuss Democratic platform
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to meet Tuesday evening with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a session focused on making sure that Donald Trump “is not elected president of the United States.”
But as Sanders announced plans for that meeting in an interview on Sunday, he held back from throwing his full support behind Clinton, holding out for assurances about what kind of Democratic Party platform she will back.
“I simply want to get a sense of what kind of platform she will be supporting,” Sanders said on “Meet the Press,” listing his priorities as middle- and working-class economics, climate change, healthcare and college affordability.
“After we have that kind of discussion and after we can determine whether or not we are going to have a strong and progressive platform, I will be able to make other decisions,” Sanders said.
The remarks came just a few days after President Obama publicly endorsed Clinton. Other prominent Democrats, including Vice President Joseph Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, also lined up behind the presumptive party nominee.
Sanders said last week that his top priority is making sure Trump does not win the presidency. Asked by host Chuck Todd if that meant he was winding down his campaign, Sanders insisted it did not.
He will have more than 1,900 delegates at the Democratic National Convention in July, he said, and they want to know what Clinton will stand for “if she wins the election.”
“I have got to make sure that working with all kinds of people throughout this country, we are going to have an agenda that stands up to Wall Street, that is aggressive on the issues that people who supported me feel strongly about,” Sanders said.
Hillary Clinton seeks to show divisions with Donald Trump in new ad
Hillary Clinton seeks to offer a stark contrast between her vision for America and that of Donald Trump in a television ad released Sunday that is set to air in battleground states over the next several weeks.
Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, narrates the ad and walks viewers through some of the past statements of Trump, where he appears to incite violence among his supporters and mocks a disabled reporter.
At its core, Clinton portrays an America under a Trump administration as divided, while she will unite the country.
“What kind of America do we want to be? Dangerously divided or strong and united? I believe we are always stronger together,” says Clinton in the minute-long spot, which, notes her campaign, is the first ad of the general election phase of the presidential race.
In recent days, the two have battled on the campaign trail.
On Friday, while speaking to Planned Parenthood, Clinton seemed to foreshadow the theme of the ad, hitting Trump for inflammatory comments about women, minorities, Muslims and the disabled.
“This election isn’t about the same old fights between Democrats and Republicans,” she said. “It’s about who we are as Americans.”
Trump, who has labeled Clinton “Crooked Hillary” on the campaign trail, is set to deliver a speech Monday focused on Clinton. He’s vowed to expose corruption surrounding the former secretary of State and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.