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NBC host grills Trump: Why take credit for 'predicting something that everyone knows will happen?'
(ABC)
Savannah Guthrie.
NBC host Savannah Guthrie confronted Donald Trump on Monday morning about why he took credit for predicting that another terrorist attack would happen on US soil.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee tweeted shortly after the Orlando attack that he was thankful for supporters who congratulated him for "being right" about the dangers of terrorism.
On NBC's "Today" show, Guthrie pressed Trump to respond to critics who asserted that he was making the attack about himself.
"To a lot of people, that struck them as unseemly, that at this moment that 49 people lay dead, you were focused on yourself and giving yourself congratulations. What do you say about that?" Guthrie asked.
"That's totally false," Trump replied. "I've been receiving tens of thousands of tweets, literally, tweets and calls, and letters, because I'm the one who predicted it, and I'm the one that said what you should be doing, and I don't want the credit."
Guthrie didn't let up, pointing out that most people understand that another terrorist attack is likely to take place at some point.
"In fairness, literally everyone predicts that there will be another terrorist attack. There's no one who doesn't recognize that that's not the world we live in," Guthrie said.
She added: "Why are you giving yourself credit for something that everyone knows with happen, sadly?"
"I don't know that everyone knows," Trump quipped. "I'm not sure if the president knows, if you want to know the truth. He won't even use the term 'radical Islamic terrorism.' I think he thinks everyone is a sweetheart."
Guthrie wasn't the only one to push Trump over his controversial comments.
In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Monday, Trump insisted that his tweet "was not congratulations."
"I don't want congratulations. I want strength, I want vigilance. I want people to report when they see something bad. The last thing I want is congratulations. I was right. And I have been right, and I am right," Trump said.
Watch the interview below, via NBC:
"We have terrible intelligence gathering right now."
Watch @SavannahGuthrie's interview with @RealDonaldTrump https://t.co/J8woCaUNJO— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 13, 2016
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