Clinton challenges Republicans to stand up to their candidate
PITTSBURGH— Hillary Clinton excoriated Donald Trump at a campaign event here on Tuesday, challenging Republicans to repudiate his comments that she said denigrated U.S. President Barack Obama and made the country less safe.
Clinton noted that while the Republican nominee, who she repeatedly called “Donald,” wants to be commander-in-chief, he failed to demonstrate an ability to deliver a “calm, collected and dignified response” to the Orlando attacks.
“Instead, yesterday morning, just one day after the massacre, he went on TV and suggested that President Obama is on the side of the terrorists,” Clinton said. “Just think about that. Even in a time of divided politics, this is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president.”
Clinton asked, “Will responsible Republican leaders stand up to their presumptive nominee?”
“Or will they stand by his accusation about our president,” Clinton continued. “I’m sure they’d rather avoid that question altogether. But history will remember what we do in this moment.”
In his speech in New Hampshire on Monday, Trump doubled down on his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States and expanded the prescription to all foreigners who sought to enter from Middle Eastern countries.
He accused Clinton and Obama of being incapable of responding to the threat of terrorism and falsely accused both Obama and Clinton of proposing to open U.S. borders to hundreds of thousands of unvetted refugees from the Middle East.