CINCINNATI, July 18 (UPI) — As the Republican National Convention prepared to get underway in northeast Ohio Monday, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton spoke bluntly in the southern part of the state about the recent rash of bloody police shootings.
“This madness has to stop,” Clinton said in Cincinnati at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “Watching the news from Baton Rouge yesterday, my heart broke. Not just for those officers and their grieving families, but for all of us.”
“Killing police officers is a terrible crime.”
Clinton’s remarks came hours before the start of the GOP convention in Cleveland, which will officially nominate billionaire Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate. In her speech, she added that as president, Trump would not be an effective leader in bridging the gap between embattled citizens and the law enforcement community.
Video: WLWT-TV Cincinnati
“My opponent in this race may have a different view, but there is nowhere I’d rather be than right here with all of you,” Clinton said before detailing some of her plans to increase unification and more harmony among whites and minorities.
“The Republican nominee for president will do the exact opposite,” she added. “He might say otherwise if he were here, but of course he declined your invitation.”
The former New York senator also pointed out many of the controversial remarks Trump has made over the last year — and even one he made nearly 45 years ago.
“We have heard a lot of troubling things about Donald Trump but that one is shocking. This man is the nominee of the party of [Abraham] Lincoln. And we are watching it become the party of Trump.”
Trump did not immediately respond to Clinton’s remarks Monday.