Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the CFE Arena during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida on March 5, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Following this morning’s suicide bombings at Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station in Brussels, Belgium, US presidential candidates have weighed in on the alleged Islamic State terrorism. Read on to hear and read responses and statements by Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, and John Kasich.
Donald Trump
“We have to be very, very vigilant as to who we allowed into this country.” –@realDonaldTrump
Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump appeared on a slew of morning shows claiming that Europe was soft and allowed the attacks to happen. You can hear his phone call into Fox & Friends above. In another phone call into Today, Trump said about the Belgian government, “Well I would say they should be able to do whatever they have to do… [but] because the laws are so liberal over there they won’t do that.”
Trump continued on CBS News, saying:
I would be extremely careful about people from the Middle East coming into our country. I would be extremely careful as to what’s going on. You have an ISIS problem that’s a massive problem. They want to come in, they want to do big damage, and I would be extremely careful about that.
Trump also took to Twitter, tweeting:
Do you all remember how beautiful and safe a place Brussels was. Not anymore, it is from a different world! U.S. must be vigilant and smart!
Hillary Clinton
.@HillaryClinton on Trump’s call for waterboarding after Brussels attacks: We don’t need to “resort to torture” t.co/E2n3xVX6Ha
Clinton has been making the rounds on the morning news shows. She also released this statement which has been retweeted by supporters on Twitter:
Clinton on #Brussels attacks: “The people of Brussels, of Europe, and of the world will not be intimidated.”
She also tweeted this personally, as it is signed with an “-H”:
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and wounded, and all the people of Belgium. -H
Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz took to Facebook to comment on the Brussels attacks. He writes:
Our hearts break for the men and women of Brussels this morning. Make no mistake — these terror attacks are no isolated incidents. They are just the latest in a string of coordinated attacks by radical Islamic terrorists perpetrated by those who are waging war against all who do not accept their extreme strain of Islam.
Radical Islam is at war with us. For over seven years we have had a president who refuses to acknowledge this reality. And the truth is, we can never hope to defeat this evil so long as we refuse to even name it. That ends on January 20, 2017, when I am sworn in as president. We will name our enemy — radical Islamic terrorism. And we will defeat it.
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders tweeted this:
Full Sanders statement on attacks in Belgium:
John Kasich
John Kasich took to Twitter to comment on the Brussels attacks, writing:
Gov. John Kasich’s statement on the terrorist attacks in #Brussels.
He also later appeared on MSNBC with Brian Williams calling for “a pause” in the immigration of Syrian refugees in the United States until the government can figure out how to properly vet them.