Donald Trump on Monday accused Hillary Clinton of lying when she said the Islamic State (IS) group used videos of his comments about Muslims to recruit militants.
The Republican presidential front-runner also took to Twitter to demand an apology from his leading Democratic opponent.
She is crooked
“She’s a liar!” Mr. Trump told more than 6,000 people at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also said Clinton was “crooked” and “not a president.”
During Saturday’s Democratic debate, Ms. Clinton said Mr. Trump had become the Islamic State’s “best recruiter” and said, “They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.”
There was no evidence to back the claim, and a spokeswoman later said, “She didn’t have a particular video in mind.”
‘Hell no apology’
Still, Ms. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, asked on Monday by MSNBC if Ms. Clinton would apologise to Mr. Trump, insisted, “Hell no.”
After the mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, Mr. Trump called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., even drawing criticism from some of his Republican rivals during last week’s debate.
Resorts to crude language
During his rally on Monday at Grand Rapids’ DeltaPlex Arena, Mr. Trump used crude language to portray Ms. Clinton as someone who constantly loses, citing her race against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
“She was favoured to win and she lost,” he said.
“Last person she wants to run against”
Mr. Trump argued that he was the last person Ms. Clinton wanted to run against in a general election.
“Ask Jeb Bush if he enjoys running against me,” he said of the former Florida Governor who has been struggling to gain traction despite a massive early fundraising advantage.
“Ask Lindsey Graham, did he enjoy running against Trump?” he said of the South Carolina Senator who on Monday announced his departure from the race for the Republican nomination.
On his kind words with Putin
Mr. Trump also defended the kind words he’s been exchanging with Russian President Vladimir Putin, brushing off criticism that he has been too kind to the Russian President.
“That’s like a good thing, not a bad thing,” he insisted. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get along like with people?”
But not for killing of scribes
And he made clear that he is opposed to the killing of journalists, after appearing to brush off concerns about Mr. Putin’s record on a Sunday morning news show.
“I don’t like that, I’m totally against that,” said Mr. Trump. “By the way, I hate some of these people ... and some of them are such lying, disgusting people, it’s true. But I would never kill. And anybody that does I think would be despicable.”
