Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign accused the White House of downplaying the threat poised by Islamic State, seeking to lay blame following a series of weekend bomb and other incidents.
“Diminishing the threat the Obama administration has allowed to materialise on its watch puts us all at risk and is another reminder that we need new leadership in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement.
The statement followed a weekend in which a bomb went off in New York City’s Chelsea neighbourhood, injuring 29 people, and another explosive device was found nearby.
As many as six explosive devices were found in nearby Elizabeth, New Jersey, and a pipe bomb exploded near a New Jersey shore town further south.
In another incident, a man stabbed nine people at a central Minnesota mall on Saturday before being shot dead by an off-duty policeman.
On Sunday, Islamic State claimed responsibility, calling the man “a soldier,” and the FBI said it was investigating the attack as a potential act of terrorism.Reuters could not verify the claim of responsibility.
Since the bomb exploded on Saturday night in Chelsea, Clinton and Trump have exchanged criticism about who would best handle the nation’s security.
Trump was criticised by both Democrats and Republicans for describing the explosion as a bomb shortly after the blast, before federal or New York City officials confirmed that as the cause.
Hours later, Clinton made her own public statement in which she appeared to scold Trump for commenting before officials were able to determine what caused the explosion.
Trump, who has based much of his campaign message on arguing that the United States is no longer safe and that he alone can protect the nation, told Fox News yesterday morning that he expects more attacks.
“I think this is something that maybe will...
happen more and more all over the country,” Trump told Fox News.
Asked if he was saying there would be more attacks, he replied, “Yeah, because we’ve been weak.
Our country’s been weak.”
Trump has sought to tie Clinton to the decisions of the Obama administration, pointing to the four years she served as the Democratic president’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
“Hillary Clinton has backed president Obama’s failed ISIS strategy to the hilt, and voters should know whether she too shares the White House’s troubling assessment of the situation,” spokesman Miller said.
Hillary Clinton yesterday accused Republican rival Donald Trump of helping Islamic State militants recruit more fighters.
Both Clinton and Trump tried to use the attacks to flex their national security credentials, with world leaders gathering in security-heightened New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly.
Speaking to reporters in White Plains, New York, Clinton urged Americans to remain calm but vigilant.
The attacks just days after the 15th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, put the United States’ most populous city on edge.
Clinton cited comments from former US intelligence director Michael Hayden in saying that Islamic State militants were using Trump’s rhetoric to attract fighters.
She cited Hayden as saying that her opponent was a recruiting sergeant for terrorists.
Trump throughout much of the last year has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
On August 31, he said, that, if elected, he would suspend immigration from “places like Syria and Libya” and would order a list of regions and countries be drawn up from which “immigration must be suspended until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put into place”.
Clinton said Trump’s words are helping Islamic State because they want to recruit more fighters to their cause by “turning it into a religious conflict....
They are attempting to make this into a war against Islam”, she said.
The renewed focus on terrorism came as Clinton and Trump prepare for their first debate next Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
The Trump campaign responded to Clinton’s attack by saying she bears some responsibility for the violence by not persuading Democratic president Barack Obama to leave a residual force of US troops in Iraq when she was his secretary of state.
Obama failed to reach agreement with the Iraqi government at the end of 2011 on extending a US-Iraqi status of forces agreement, and most American troops were withdrawn.
Trump has sought to tie Clinton to the decisions of the Obama administration, pointing to the four years she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
“Hillary Clinton’s comments today accusing Mr Trump of treason are not only beyond the pale, it’s also an attempt to distract from her horrible record on ISIS.
If Clinton really wants to find the real cause of ISIS, she needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror,” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said.
Obama was in New York yesterday to attend the United Nations General Assembly and meet world leaders.