Hillary Clinton says Trump is trying to ‘hijack Christianity’ and that Biden will win election

Former presidential rival also condemned incumbent for gassing protesters

Andrew Naughtie
Thursday 18 June 2020 14:09 BST
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Hillary Clinton says Trump 'hijacked' the Bible

Hillary Clinton has accused Donald Trump of trying to "hijack" Christianity and the Bible, saying: "He can’t tell you a single thing that’s in it.”

She also predicted that if the election was held on this coming Tuesday, Democratic candidate Joe Biden would win.

It comes after Mr Trump's administration ordered law enforcement officers to disperse peaceful protesters near a church by force, for a photo opportunity with a Bible earlier this month.

Mrs Clinton said during an interview with Sky News’s Kay Burley: “That has been a pattern. He’s tried to hijack Christianity and the Bible in ways that are, you know, deeply hypocritical.

“And that was just another occasion and the outcry by religious leaders, I think, demonstrated clearly that nobody was being fooled.”

Mr Trump’s use of the Bible at the photoshoot has indeed been widely condemned, not least given that his administration used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear peaceful protesters away from the square in front of the church.

And as Ms Clinton pointed out, Mr Trump has previously struggled to articulate his specific feelings about the Bible.

In a 2015 interview with Bloomberg that was widely recirculated and parodied after the infamous photoshoot, Mr Trump was asked whether he was “an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy”; he replied “Probably… equal. I think it’s just an incredible — the whole Bible is incredible.”

Aside from her comments about Mr Trump’s biblical behaviour, Ms Clinton also offered a confident prediction about who will win the 2020 election: Joe Biden.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if the election were held Tuesday, this coming Tuesday, he would win. I just have to do everything I can so that it’s also true the first Tuesday of November."

And asked what she would tell Mr Trump now, she did not mince words.

“Just go away quietly, thank you very much. Go back to golfing, and whatever else you want to do, Just don’t continue to mess with our country, thank you.”

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