WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s fierce denunciation of Hillary Clinton on Wednesday was rife with distortion.
He accused Clinton of announcing a withdrawal from Iraq that wasn’t on her watch, pulled numbers out of nowhere on her plan for refugees and went beyond the established facts behind the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in stating starkly that she “left him there to die.” In doing so, he assigned her far more influence in the world than she exercised as secretary of state.
A look at some of his assertions and how they stack up with the facts:
TRUMP: “In just four years, Secretary Clinton managed to almost single-handedly destabilize the entire Middle East.” He blamed her for an invasion of Libya that “handed the country over to ISIS,” for making Iran the dominant Islamic power in the region and for supporting regime change in Syria that led to a bloody civil war. He charged that her “disastrous strategy” of announcing a departure date from Iraq created another opening for ISIS there.
THE FACTS: These statements make only passing acquaintance with reality.