Addressing NYC blast, Clinton says Trump’s rhetoric helps terrorists

Hillary Clinton held a Monday press conference in which she addressed the recent bombs planted in New York City and New Jersey, telling reporters outside her campaign plane that the Islamic State terror group has “seized” and amplified Donald Trump’s rhetoric.

The press conference in White Plains, N.Y., came as authorities announced they are seeking a person of interest in the mostly unsuccessful bomb attacks: Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan.

“We choose resolve, not fear,” Clinton said on the tarmac.

A reporter asked Clinton whether she believed foreign terror groups could be trying to influence the U.S. election by plotting attacks that would shift support to Trump.

“I don’t want to speculate, but here’s what we know: We know that a lot of the rhetoric we’ve heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS,” Clinton said.

Clinton said ISIS uses Trump’s past statements to argue that the U.S. is waging a war against an entire religion instead of against a terror group. The GOP nominee once advocated stopping all Muslims from entering the U.S., but has since muddled his position.

“They want to use that to recruit more fighters to their cause by turning this into a religious conflict,” she said. “That’s why I’ve been very clear: We’re going after the bad guys, and we’re going to get them, but we’re not going after a religion.”

“Secondly, we know that Donald Trump’s comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists,” Clinton continued, citing an analysis by former CIA Director Michael Hayden and Matt Olsen, the former head of the U.S. Counterterrorism Center. Clinton quoted Hayden calling Trump a “recruiting sergeant” for terrorists and Olsen saying Trump’s rhetoric is giving “aid and comfort to our adversaries.”

Clinton argued that she is the only candidate in the race who has “been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield,” in the Situation Room. “I know how to do this,” she said.

She also briefly outlined her own plan to stop terror attacks by convincing Silicon Valley tech companies to help law enforcement intercept online recruiting. Clinton also said she would give more resources to local law enforcement agencies and step up the air campaign against ISIS. She then slammed Trump for saying he was keeping his anti-ISIS strategy private to avoid tipping off the terror group.

“You don’t hear a plan from him,” she said of Trump. “He keeps saying he has a secret plan. Well, the secret is he has no plan.”

After a reporter asked Clinton whether this latest security threat could cause Americans to support Trump’s tough immigration stance, she warned the public not to get “distracted and diverted” by campaign rhetoric. “I am absolutely in favor of and have long been an advocate for tough vetting,” Clinton said. “We need a better visa system. Let’s remember what happened on 9/11. These were not refugees who got into airplanes and attacked our country and our city.”

For his part, Trump said Monday morning on Fox News that “we’re going to have to be very tough” against ISIS and “knock the hell out of them.”
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