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ByKathleenHennessey The Associated Press WASHINGTON Presi- dent Barack Obama an- grily denounced Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhet- oric on Tuesday, blasting the views of the presump- tive Republican presiden- tial nominee as a threat to American security and a menacing echo of some of the most shameful mo- ments in U.S. history. Obama's rebuke was his most searing yet of the man seeking to take his seat in the Oval Of- fice. While the president has frequently dismissed Trump as a buffoon or a huckster, this time he challenged the former re- ality television star as a "dangerous" threat to the nation's safety, religious freedom and diversity. "That's not the Amer- ica we want. It does not reflect our democratic ideals," Obama declared in remarks that had been scheduled as simply up- dating the public on the counter-Islamic State campaign. Obama walked listeners through a familiar litany of battlefield successes, but then came another mes- sage. Growing more ani- mated as he spoke, Obama said Trump's "loose talk and sloppiness" could lead to discrimination and tar- geting of ethnic and reli- gious minorities. "We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear and we came to regret it," Obama said. "We've seen our govern- ment mistreat our fellow citizens and it has been a shameful part of our his- tory." Trump responded by suggesting that Obama is too solicitous of enemies. "President Obama claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American peo- ple," the candidate said in a statement. "When I am president, it will always be America first." Sunday's mass shoot- ing in Orlando, Florida, has set off a new round of debate over counterterror- ism, gun control and im- migration — one that has exposed the political par- ties' starkly different ap- proaches to national se- curity. The presumed gunman was an Ameri- can-born citizen whose parents came to the U.S. from Afghanistan more than 30 years ago. Trump has used the carnage to renew his call for a ban on Muslim im- migration and has ac- cused Obama of being weak in confronting ex- tremist groups. The Dem- ocrats' presumptive pres- idential nominee, Hillary Clinton also let out a full- throated response that Trump's speech should disqualify him. "We don't need conspir- acy theories and patholog- ical self-congratulations," Clinton said Tuesday, in a speech that closely tracked Obama's. "We need lead- ership and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy." Both Clinton and Obama turned up the heat on Republicans, some of whom have squirmed with discomfort this week at the first glimpses of how their new leader handles national crises. As Obama argued that Trump's ban on immi- gration would lead Mus- lim-Americans to believe their government had be- trayed them, he urged Re- publicans to denounce the policy. ELECTION 2016 'Not the America we want': Obama blasts Trump's Muslim plans POLITICS SUSANWALSH—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS President Barack Obama speaks at the Treasury Department in Washington, Tuesday following a meeting with his National Security Council to get updates on the investigation into the attack in Orlando, Florida and review efforts to degrade and destroy ISIS. By Erica Werner The Associated Press WASHINGTON Dismayed Republicans scrambled for cover Tuesday from Don- ald Trump's inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre, while President Barack Obama and Dem- ocrat Hillary Clinton de- livered fiery denunciations that underscored the poten- tial peril for the GOP. Republican hopes are fading for a new, "more presidential" Trump as the party's divisions around him grow ever more acute. Clinton, campaigning in Pittsburgh, said, "We don't need conspiracy theories and pathological self-con- gratulations. We need lead- ership and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy." At the White House, Obama said of Muslim- Americans: "Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to discriminate against them because of their faith?" After meeting with counterterrorism offi- cials, a stern-faced Obama said: "We heard these sug- gestions during the course of this campaign. Do Re- publican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want." Several of Trump's fel- low Republicans clearly did not agree with him. They were nearly as unsparing as the Democrats in their criticism of his boundary- pushing response Monday to the killing of 49 patrons at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, by an American- born Muslim who pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group. Among other things, Trump called for Obama to resign for failing to use the phrase "radical Islam," sug- gested moderate Muslims and perhaps even Obama himself might sympathize with radical elements, and expanded his call for a tem- porary ban on Muslim im- migration to the U.S. "Mr. Trump seems to be suggesting that the presi- dent is one of them, I find that highly offensive, I find that whole line of reason- ing way off-base," said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "Mr. Trump's re- action to declare war on the faith is the worst possible solution." GOP Rep. Adam Kinz- inger of Illinois said Trump's comments could be used to radicalize uned- ucated Muslims. "I guess I appreciate Mr. Trump's fieriness in talking about it, and strength, but you don't do it by alienat- ing the very people we need and those are moderate Muslims," said Kinzinger. "To use religion as a test, to say we're going to discrimi- nate against all Muslims, is so counterproductive it re- ally almost doesn't deserve being talked about." Trump responded to Obama's criticism in a statement saying: "Presi- dent Obama claims to know our enemy, and yet he con- tinues to prioritize our en- emy over our allies, and for that matter, the Amer- ican people. When I am president, it will always be America First." The reactions under- scored an atmosphere of anxiety and unease among Republicans on Capi- tol Hill, who hoped to see Trump moderate his im- pulses in the weeks since clinching the nomination. The presidency and control of Congress are at stake in November. Instead the opposite has occurred as the billionaire businessman has stoked one controversy after an- other and shows no sign of slowing down. One senior Senate Re- publican, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, went so far as to suggest Trump might not end up as the party's nominee after all. "We do not have a nomi- nee until after the conven- tion," Alexander asserted in response to a question. In- formed that Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, Alexander retorted: "That's what you say." Other congressional Re- publicans claimed, improb- ably, not to have heard what Trump said. "I just don't know what he was talking about, I frankly don't know what you're talking about. I hadn't heard it," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, in re- sponse to a question about Trump's suggestions about Obama. As he has in the past, House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced Trump's call for an immigration ban for Muslims, saying: "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest. I do not think it is reflective of our principles not just as a party, but as a country. And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test and not a re- ligious test." Ryan, who endorsed Trump only recently after a lengthy delay as he grap- pled with the implications of the celebrity business- man's candidacy, ignored shouted questions about whether he stood by his support. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he would not be commenting Tues- day about Trump. "I continue to be discour- aged by the direction of the campaign and comments that are made," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Com- mittee. Monday's Trump address was not "the type of speech that one would give that wants to lead this country through difficult times." For many Republicans the prospect of continu- ally facing questions about Trump was plainly wear- ing thin. "I'm just not going to comment on more of his statements. It's going to be five months of it," said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. Said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina: "What Trump does or says, every time he says something doesn't mean I have to have an answer for it." GOP scrambles to distance itself from Trump on Orlando By Alan Fram The Associated Press WASHINGTON Omar Ma- teen, investigated twice by the FBI, was on the govern- ment's terrorist watch list for 10 months before being removed. Yet even had he remained on that listing, it wouldn't have stopped him from buying the firearms he used in Sunday's Orlando shooting rampage. Senate Democrats are hoping to use that little- known fact and the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history to pressure Re- publicans totakewhatcould be a politically painful elec- tion-year vote to curb gun sales. The FBI investigations, in 2013 and 2014, closed with no charges against Mateen, 29. Yet the day after the at- tack by the American-born Muslim left 49 people dead and more than 50 others wounded in a gay nightclub, President Barack Obama and FBI director James Comey said he was proba- bly inspired by foreign ter- rorist groups. Mateen died in a gunfight with a SWAT team. A look at the intersec- tion between the terrorist list, guns and the Orlando bloodbath: Q What is the terrorist watch list? A The FBI's Terror- ist Screening Center, created in 2003 follow- ing the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., maintains the terror- ist watch list, a database of people known or suspected of being involved in terrorist activities. Federal agencies used to keep nearly a dozen separate listings but shared them only occasionally. The list had around 800,000 names on it in 2014, according to testimony the Center'sdirector,Christopher Piehota,gavethatSeptember to a House subcommittee. GAY NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING Some on terror list can buy guns, and Dems try to capitalize Select"Subscribe"tabin lower right corner Complete information for automatic weekly delivery to your email inbox That's it! FREE online subscription to TV Select Magazine Digital edition emailed to you, every Saturday! Just go online to www.ifoldsflip.com/t/5281 (You'll only need to go there one time) • Fully searchable online, zoom in, print out pages and more! • No newspaper online subscription or website access required. • Best of all ... it's ABSOLUTELY FREE! This FREE service made possible by the advertisers in TV Select Magazine Kindly patronize and thank them. Click on their ads online to access their websites! | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2016 6 B