Trump: ‘Is There Something Wrong’ With Calling Obama ‘Founder Of ISIS?’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Sharonville Convention Center, Wednesday, July 6, 2016, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
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Donald Trump on Thursday morning refused to back down from his Wednesday night claim that President Obama is the “founder of ISIS.”

“He was the founder of ISIS, uh, absolutely,” Trump said on CNBC’s “Squawkbox” when asked if it was “appropriate” to say that Obama founded a terrorist organization.

And later in the interview, Trump seemed confused as to why he was asked whether his comments were appropriate.

“Is there something wrong with saying that? Why? Are people complaining that I said he was the founder of ISIS?” he asked.

Trump criticized Obama for “the way he removed our troops.” He then pivoted to the invasion of Iraq, which was occurred during the President George W. Bush administration, calling it “one of the worst mistakes in the history of our country.” He later bashed Obama again for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

“He and Hillary gets the most valuable player award having to do with Iraq and having to do with the ISIS situation,” he said.

He then chastised Obama for referring to the Islamic State as ISIL.

“He calls it ISIL because nobody else does, and he wants to bother people by using a different term, and whether it’s more accurate or not — most people call it ISIS. He calls it ISIL,” Trump said on CNBC.

Several news organizations also refer to the terrorist group as ISIL because they believe that the most accurate translation is “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” not “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.”

Watch part of the interview via CNBC:

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