Donald Trump Accused of Implying an Obama-Orlando Shooting Link
— -- In the aftermath of this weekend's deadly shooting in Orlando, Donald Trump made his routine rounds today on morning television. But buried among his remarks was a perceived suggestion that something more sinister was at play.
Trump criticized President Barack Obama, as he's inclined to do, for not protecting the country.
"He doesn't get it, or he gets it better than anybody understands. It's one or the other," Trump said on "Fox and Friends" this morning. "And either one is unacceptable, No. 1. And No. 2, calling on another gun ban — I mean, this man has no clue."
Asked what he meant during a later appearance on NBC, Trump said, "Well, there's a lot of people that think maybe he doesn't want to get it. A lot of people think that maybe he doesn't want to know about it."
"I happen to think he just doesn't know what he's doing. But there's many people that think he doesn't want to get it. He doesn't want to see what's really happening," Trump said.
On the Fox News interview, Trump said, "Our government is led by a man who is a very — look guys, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind, people can't believe it."
"There's something going on. It's inconceivable," Trump said.
Coming from a man who famously perpetuated the falsehood that Obama was not born in this country and who has openly suggested that the president is a Muslim, some people speculated about what Trump was implying today.
Trump declined to answer definitively in September when ABC News' George Stephanopoulos asked him about the president's faith, which is Christian.
"I haven't raised the question. I don't talk about it, and I don't like talking about somebody else's faith. He talks about his faith, and he can do that," Trump said. "But I don't talk about other people's faith. It's not appropriate for me to talk about somebody else's faith."
Trump, ever the showman, has shown no regrets for making wildly false comments in the past. In an August 2013 interview with ABC News' Jon Karl, he stood behind his push to reveal Obama's "true birth status."
Karl asked, "You don't acknowledge that you went overboard on this whole birther stuff?"
Trump replied, "Actually, I think it made me very popular, if you want to know the truth, OK? So I do think I know what I'm doing."
ABC News' Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
