Trump claims ISIS ‘gained tremendous strength’ under Clinton

Published August 12, 2016 1:28pm ET



Donald Trump continued to link Hillary Clinton to the Islamic State, this time saying the terror group “gained tremendous strength” during her time as secretary of state.

“ISIS gained tremendous strength during Hillary Clinton’s term as Secretary of State. When will the dishonest media report the facts!” the Republican presidential nominee said on Twitter Friday morning.


The tweet comes a few hours after he wrote off calling President Obama — and Clinton — “the founder” of Islamic State as “sarcasm.”

Trump found himself in the middle of yet another controversy this week after he argued Obama and Clinton founded the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Given the opportunity to walk back the comments multiple times, he repeatedly made the accusation in speeches and interviews on Wednesday and Thursday, before the sarcasm claim on Friday.

Trump also critiqued Clinton for something else Friday morning — her latest economic policy address.

“A massive tax increase will be necessary to fund Hillary Clinton’s agenda. What a terrible (and boring) rollout that was yesterday!” Trump tweeted.


On Thursday, Clinton gave an economic speech in Michigan, saying Trump would look out for only the wealthy if he were president. Her speech was a response to Trump’s Monday address on the economy.