In a first of its kind, Donald Trump has offered a broad regret for the “personal pain” his offensive comments may have caused people with what has been a bare-knuckle campaign ever since he plunged into the presidential race 14 months ago.
A day after rebooting his campaign in the face of daunting poll numbers, Trump, who has alienated minorities and hurt several other segments including fellow-Republicans with his acerbic tongue, opted to soften his tone a wee bit at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday night.
“Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that,” the habitually-uncompromising billionaire confessed, adding: “And believe it or not, I regret it — and I do regret it — particularly where it may have caused personal pain.”
“Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues,” he said, telling his cheering supporters: “But one thing I can promise you is this: I will always tell you the truth.”
Thereafter, Trump launched into a full-scale attack on his Democratic rival, calling her “one of the greatest liars of all time”, adding: “The American people are still waiting for Hillary Clinton to apologise for all of the many lies she’s told them, and the many times she’s betrayed them.”
“Has she apologized for putting Iran on the path to nuclear weaponsIJ Has she apologized for IranIJ For libyaIJ For SyriaIJ Has she apologized for unleashing ISIS across the worldIJ” Trump said, reading from a prepared text.
He also targeted President Obama for the $400 million “ransom” paid by his administration to Iran for the release of four American hostages. “We now know from the State Department announcement that President Obama lied about the $400 million in cash that was flown to Iran. He denied it was for the hostages, but it was. He said we don’t pay ransom, but he did. He lied about the hostages — openly and blatantly — just like he lied about Obamacare,” Trump charged.
His renewed accusation came on a day when the State Department conceded for the first time that on the payment issue, it had sought to retain maximum leverage until after American citizens were released, but denied it was a ransom.
“We deliberately leveraged that moment to finalize these outstanding issues nearly simultaneously,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said, adding: “With concerns that Iran may renege on the prisoner release, given unnecessary delays regarding persons in Iran who could not be located as well as, to be quite honest, mutual mistrust between Iran and the United States, we of course sought to retain maximum leverage until after American citizens were released. That was our top priority.”
The Republicans immediately claimed it as a vindication of their stand that the Obama administration had conditioned the release of the money to the release of American prisoners from Tehran.
Renewing his promise to destroy ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism, Trump said: “I have a message for the terrorists trying to kill our citizens: we will find you, we will destroy you, and we will win.”
Even while attempting to reach out to minorities, Trump stuck to his position on Muslims wishing to immigrate to the US, saying: “All applicants for immigration will be vetted for ties to radical ideology, and we will screen out anyone who doesn’t share our values and love our people. Anyone who believes Sharia law supplants American law will not be given an immigrant visa.”
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