NEW YORK — (CNN) Donald Trump said Monday he doesn’t believe President Barack Obama is sympathetic to Muslim terrorists, despite seeming to hint at the prospect last week.
“I don’t believe it,” Trump told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly when asked if he thought Obama “may be sympathetic to Muslim terrorists” during an interview aired Monday night.
“I do say, though, when I see a deal like was made with Iran, this horrible, horrible deal where we’re giving them back $150 billion … We’re getting almost nothing out of it,” he said, referring to the Iran nuclear deal struck by the Obama administration. “They’re going to end up with their nuclear weapons and lots of other things whenever they want. And then I see the way he treats Israel. I say, ‘Wow … there seems to be a double standard.’ I’m not happy about it.”
But last Monday, Trump seemed to suggest that Obama had an ulterior motive concerning how he addresses and handles terror attacks, because he does not say the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism.”
“We’re led by a man who is very — look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind. And the something else in mind, you know, people can’t believe it,” Trump had said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “People cannot believe, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and he can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.”
Trump also told O’Reilly on Monday that he believed that those placed on terror watch lists should be banned from buying guns, something opposed by the National Rifle Association, which has endorsed him, and by most Republican senators during a series of votes on gun measures the same evening.
“Absolutely. Who would not agree with that?” Trump said. “The watch list to me is very important.”
Trump’s comments came on a day when he largely maintained a low media profile — the person mostly in the spotlight was his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who was fired by Trump on Monday morning.
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