WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president of the United States of America, told Breitbart News that America is “less safe” than it was 15 years ago before the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“We are less safe as a country,” Trump said in an exclusive interview backstage at the Values Voter Summit here in Washington, D.C., at the Omni Shoreham hotel. “We have incompetent leadership. We have leadership that doesn’t know what it’s doing. And you look at our military, it’s very depleted. We have the greatest people in the military, but it’s very depleted with equipment, with size. Our Navy is missing many ships from what it had. All of our forces are way down. We are less safe.”
Trump’s comments came days before he visited the New York City 9/11 memorial, standing just 20 feet from his rival Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton was escorted out of the event by staffers who held her up and Secret Service detail agents who lifted her into her van. Her staff, more than an hour later, issued a statement saying she was “overheated.”
Trump also issued a statement on Sunday morning mourning the loss of thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Fifteen years ago, America suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. Thousands of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and innocent American children were murdered by radical Islamic terrorists,” Trump said in the statement. He continued:
Today, we mourn for all the lives lost. We mourn for all the children who had to grow up without a mom or dad, and for all the parents who’ve had to struggle on without their children. We will never forget. In that darkest hour, the entire world bore witness to the strength and courage of our mighty nation. Firefighters, police officers and port authority workers rushed into danger, into smoke, into fire to save the lives of people they had never met –performing their sacred duties until their last moments on Earth. Heroes like Father Mychal Judge who tended to the dead and dying until he too joined them in Heaven. These were the finest and bravest and toughest people that could ever grace a city. We remember the heroes of Flight 93, who saved countless more from a terrible fate. We remember the heroes at the Pentagon who fought to save every last life from the smoldering rubble. Today is a day of sadness and remembrance. It is also a day of resolve. Our solemn duty on behalf of all those who perished that September day 15 years ago, is to work together as one nation to keep all of our people safe from an enemy that seeks nothing less than to destroy our way of life. We pray for those who have lost the ones they love so much, and we also pray for the unity we will need to conquer all the challenges to come.
National security, fighting radical Islamic terrorism, and rebuilding America’s military have been significant portions of Trump’s campaign. Last week in Philadelphia, Trump made the case for a new foreign policy and national security plan that focuses on building new alliances on the world and rebuilding America’s military infrastructure.
More from Trump’s latest exclusive interview with Breitbart News is forthcoming.
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