Unlike U.S President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton said Monday she's not afraid to say "radical" Islam in condemning the lone-wolf terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida on Sunday that killed 50 people, including the terrorist gunman.
The apparent Democratic presidential nominee spoke in response to a challenge issued by Donald Trump, her presumed Republican opponent in the November election, who said that she's too politically correct to use the phrase.
"From my perspective, it matters what we do more than what we say," Clinton said on CNN's "New Day."
"And it mattered we got Bin Laden, not what name we called him. I have clearly said we—whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, I'm happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing," Clinton said.
It was the first time Clinton made such remarks to describe radical Islam even as Obama continued his refusal to use the words "radical Islam" when talking about violence perpetrated by Muslim fanatics.
Clinton also directly linked the attack to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organisation.
"This was a terrorist attack. ISIS appears to be claiming credit for it, whether it had anything to do with it or not—at a minimum, they seem to have inspired it," Clinton told host Chris Cuomo.
However, Clinton again rejected Trump's proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.
"What I won't do, because I think it is dangerous for our efforts to defeat this threat, is to demonise and demagogue and declare war on an entire religion," she said. "That plays right into ISIS' hands."
After Clinton spoke, Trump was also interviewed on the same CNN programme where he repeated the charge that Democrats' reluctance to say "radical Islamic terror" was hampering efforts to combat terror.
"The first thing you need is a president that will mention the problem. And he won't even mention what the problem is," Trump said. "Unless you're going to say that, you're never going to solve it."
Meanwhile, Obama said the Orlando shooting was inspired by extremist information over the internet, calling it an apparent example of "homegrown extremism" that U.S. officials have been worrying about for years, ABC News reports.
Speaking in the Oval Office after meeting with the FBI director, Obama said the attack appears similar to the shooting late last year in San Bernardino, California, though he added that "we don't yet know." Investigators in that attack determined the killers weren't directed from overseas but were at least partly inspired by the ISIS.
"At this stage, we see no clear evidence that [Orlando shooter Omar Seddique Mateen] was directed externally," Obama said. "It does appear that at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL," he said, using his preferred acronym for the terrorist group.
