On Thursday night, following the terrorist attack in Nice, France, Hillary Clinton was interviewed via telephone by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Appearing on Anderson Cooper 360, Clinton and Cooper discussed the attacks, and she spoke about how the United States needs to approach the war against radical jihadists. She stressed the importance of working with our allies and gathering intelligence to combat terrorism across the globe. A video of the interview is below.
Twenty hostages were killed, including one American citizen, during a standoff in a Bangladesh restaurant between seven Islamist militants and authorities. Thirteen of the hostages survived. All but one of the terrorists were killed in the raid by local police, and the surviving shooter was arrested. The terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which lasted eleven hours. Hillary Clinton released a statement extending her sympathies to the families of the victims. She condemned the event and vowed to work with our allies to defeat ISIS and radical jihadism. A copy of Clinton’s statement is below:
“The terrorist assault on a bakery and restaurant in Dhaka is a reminder that an attack halfway around the world is still an attack on all of us, in the everyday places we hold dear. The victims in Dhaka came from all over–from Italy, from Japan, from India, and, of course, from Bangladesh. We have learned that at least three attended college here in the United States, including one American citizen. Today, we say with one voice: this campaign of fear and hatred and violence will not succeed. We will not retreat. We will not turn our backs on each other. The United States stands firmly with our friends and allies in the fight to defeat ISIS and radical jihadism around the world. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of Bangladesh.”
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail following some time off for the Christmas holiday. She hosted a town hall event at the Unitarian South Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with over 900 in attendance. Clinton spoke about a number of topics from her platform, but she focused on the economy and her proposal to effectively treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease. She then answered a number of questions from those in attendance, including a question from a young boy who wondered why his mom doesn’t make as much money has his dad. A full video from the event is below or you can watch on C-SPAN.
Later in the day, Clinton headed across the snowy state to Berlin where she held a second town hall at Berlin High School. She covered similar topics during the event and answered a number of questions from the crowd. She was asked about ISIS and their persecution religious minorities in the region, including Christians. Clinton stated that she believed that ISIS’s attacks on the Yazidi minority and other minority groups should be defined as genocide. She said, “America must wage and win an immediate battle against ISIS, al Qaeda, and other terrorist networks, as well as a generational struggle against radical jihadism.”
New Hampshire is important to Clinton because she currently trails Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary polls. As part of a final campaign push leading up to the first primaries, Clinton hosted the town halls today and Bill Clinton will make several stops in the state next week. The New Hampshire primary will be held on February 9, 2016.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks about her counterterrorism strategy during a speech at the University of Minnesota Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
At an event held on the campus University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Hillary Clinton outlined her plan to prevent jihadist recruitment and radicalization. Her plan consists of five parts:
Stop ISIS recruitment in the United States, especially online
Prevent would-be jihadists from getting training overseas, and prevent foreign terrorists from coming to the United States
Discover and disrupt terror plots before they can be carried out
Support law enforcement officers
Empower Muslim-American communities to fight radicalization
Clinton also called for a measure that would prevent people on the no-fly list from buying a gun. She said, “They’ll [Republicans] say that guns are a totally separate issue – nothing to do with terrorism. I have news for them. Terrorists use guns to kill Americans, and I think we should make it a lot harder for them to ever do that again.” Today’s proposals are in addition to her plans to defeat ISIS, which she laid out last month. A full video from Clinton’s speech is below and a transcript is available on The Briefing.
Tomorrow, Clinton will be joined by Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska to discuss tax reform. For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 