A day after endorsing Paul Ryan, Donald Trump is back on the attack against Hillary Clinton
Reporting from WASHINGTON — Donald Trump doled out a litany of verbal assaults against Hillary Clinton on Saturday night, questioning whether the former secretary of State looks presidential and raising doubts about her ability to lead as fallout continues from her use of a personal email server while at the State Department.
Islamic State terrorists “dream of Hillary Clinton,” Trump said of his Democratic challenger, who is the first woman to become the presidential nominee of a major party.
“You tell me: She looks presidential? I look presidential,” he said to supporters at a rally in Windham, N.H.
For Trump, his rally Saturday marked the end of a week which saw several Republicans defect from his campaign and voice support for Clinton.
This came as Trump battled publicly with the Muslim family of a fallen soldier and with prominent members of his own party, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Trump initially declined to endorse their bids for reelection. Only after pushback from the party did he endorse Ryan and McCain on Friday, along with GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.
At a rally in Wisconsin, Ryan’s home state, Trump said of the speaker, “He’s a good man, and he’s a good guy. And we may disagree on a couple of things, but mostly we agree.”
Of McCain, he said, “I hold in the highest esteem Sen. John McCain for his service to our country in uniform and in public office, and I fully support and endorse his reelection.”
Last summer Trump questioned whether McCain, a former Navy pilot who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was a war hero. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said then. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
On Saturday, Trump made no mention of the endorsements and centered his attention on Clinton. A day earlier, Clinton, speaking before a convention of black and Latino journalists, said she had offered a “short-circuited” response in a Fox News interview last weekend.
In the interview, Clinton suggested FBI Director James B. Comey had concluded that her public statements about her use of a private email server while secretary of State were truthful. Yet Comey had only said there was no evidence that she had lied to the FBI during its investigation into the matter.
“She used the term ‘short circuited’ — a real short circuit to the brain,” Trump said Saturday. “She’s got real problems.” In July, the Department of Justice decided not to file charges against Clinton in the email probe.
Trump, to chants of, “Lock her up! Lock her up!” from supporters, rehashed Clinton’s email issues.
“Her greatest achievement is getting out of trouble,” Trump said of the Justice Department’s decision not to file charges.
Clinton did not hold any public events Saturday, but her campaign released a “worst week ever” list of 45 reasons that Trump’s campaign is in disarray — a nod to the 45th commander in chief, which both are vying to become.
Among them, No. 2: “Refused to endorse Speaker Paul Ryan, earning the wrath of the Republican establishment.”
Twitter: @kurtisalee
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