Trump ‘gives aid, comfort’ to ISIS recruiters

New York billionaire’s anti-Muslim rhetoric helps groups, such as ISIS, recruit new fighters, former state secretart says

ESTERO, Florida— Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of giving “aid and comfort” to Islamic terrorists on Monday, declaring his anti-Muslim rhetoric helps groups, such as ISIS recruit new fighters.

Trump showed no sign of changing and insisted the United States should “use whatever lawful methods are available” to get information from the Afghan immigrant arrested in this weekend’s bombings.

As Trump supporters at a packed rally in Florida shouted “Hang him!” the Republican presidential candidate mocked the fact that Ahmad Khan Raha- mi, a 28-year-old US citizen originally from Afghanistan, would receive quality medical care and legal representation.

“We must deliver a just and very harsh punishment to these people,” he said.

“These are enemies, these are combatants and we have to be tough, we have to be strong.”

Both candidates moved swiftly to capitalize on investigations into a weekend of violent attacks — bombings in New York and New Jersey and stabbings at a Minne- sota mall — casting themselves as most qualified to combat terrorism at home and abroad.

Clinton touted her national security credentials at a hastily arranged news conference outside her campaign plane, accusing Trump of using the incidents to make “some kind of demagogic point.”

“I’m the only candidate in this race who’s been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield,” Clinton, a former secretary of state, told reporters. “I know how to do this.”

The possibility of a homegrown terrorist plot cast a new shadow over the presidential race, diverting both candidates’ attention from the daily controversies of the campaign and giving them a high-profile opportunity to make their case to undecided voters.

Clinton and her team see her experience and what they say is her steady judgment as key selling points for her candidacy.

On the campaign trail, she frequently invokes her role in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, describing to voters the tense atmosphere in the White House alongside President Barack Obama at that moment.

But while much of the foreign policy establishment has rallied around Clinton, Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, promises to close US borders and vows to aggressively profile potential terrorists have fueled his presidential bid.

On Monday, he called for tougher policing, including profiling foreigners who look like they could have connections to terrorism or certain Middle Eastern nations. (AP)