The commander-in-chief of the U.S. is also the founder of a terrorist group that’s claimed credit for attacks across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
That’s according to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who made the claim at a rally in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Wednesday, just days after making remarks that seemed to suggest that gun advocates should harm his rival, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS, He’s the founder. He founded ISIS,” the presidential candidate said. “And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.”
He reiterated his comments Thursday morning on CNBC, saying Obama was “absolutely” the founder of ISIS, and referred to the “way he removed our troops.”
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Trump has increasingly criticized how the Obama administration has dealt with terrorist threats. Trump has also implied that Obama was somehow involved with the ISIS-inspired shooting that took 49 lives at a nightclub in Orlando in June.
The comments have distracted voters from Trump’s economic platform, which the candidate sought to refocus during his Thursday interview with CNBC.
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“We’re all about getting rid of massive regulation,” he told CNBC. “[It’s] making it virtually impossible to, no matter what you do, start new businesses, and old businesses are being hurt very badly.”
Trump also condemned Obamacare for “decimating” small businesses.
“They’re being destroyed by high taxes, they’re being destroyed by Obamacare, and they’re being destroyed by regulation,” he said. “We’re doing a lot about each.”
Trump unveiled his economics plan in Detroit just days ago, outlining plans to cut corporate taxes, repatriate jobs, and impose heavy tariffs on imports.