Trump In Grand Rapids Calls Clinton Emails 'Biggest Scandal Since Watergate'
GRAND RAPIDS (CBS Detroit) Donald Trump took to the podium Monday morning in Grand Rapids, a heavily Republican area in the swing state of Michigan, pushing his case that he should be the next president of the United States.
A triumphant-sounding Trump carried his usual swagger to town.
"We're going to win Michigan, we're doing great in every poll, we're doing amazing ... We're winning in Ohio, we're winning in Iowa ... we're winning in Florida, we're winning big in Texas .. This is going to be something special," Trump told the enthusiastic, packed audience.
He went on to promise, "we're going to bring you jobs back to America ... We're going to make Michigan the economic envy of the entire world again."
It was one of Trump's first opportunities to speak to the public since the FBI told Congress they were opening the case into Hillary Clinton's emails based on email found on a mobile device belonging to Anthony Weiner.
He said Clinton will "get us into World War III."
Weiner is the estranged husband of Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin. At issue is whether classified information was sent between the device and an unsecured server set up for Clinton.
"They may finally have gotten wise to the Clintons," Trump said in Grand Rapids as the crowd chanted "lock her up."
In response, Trump said, "Wow, thank you, I love you too."
He added she "lied under oath" about the existence of the emails. "She's lied so many times, and the deletions ... This is the biggest scandal since Watergate ... Hillary is the one who set up an illegal private email server in a closet to shield her criminal activity ... And now there are five FBI probes into the Clinton Foundation and their pay for play activities..."
"I think we hit the mother lode," he added, later saying, "thank you, Huma, good job, Huma. Thank you Anthony Weiner."
Beyond Hillary Clinton, Trump talked immigration, health care and manufacturing jobs.
"You're going to have plenty of jobs, get ready," he said. Later, he said the United States has lost 70,000 factories since China entered the world trade organization and auto jobs have declined from 280,000 to 165,000 since NAFTA was approved. Delphi laid off 3,625, sending the jobs to Mexico, he claimed.
He said he's going to rebuild Detroit, and Michigan, adding a special message "for African Americans." "Look at the city of Detroit," he said, outlining violent crime and children trapped in poverty. While Clinton wants to spend money to help immigrants, he said he'll spend money to provide schools of choice, clean air and water, local jobs, and the restoration of manufacturing.
"We don't have to give hundreds of billions of dollars away to people who are laughing at us," he said.
On immigration policy, he said "we've got to have a border" and adding "we will build a wall."
Later he added he would suspend the Syrian refugee program, and deport all "criminal aliens," saying "we don't want to be the great Trojan horse of the future." He added that since terrorist attacks people are afraid to visit Paris.
"We have to stop the poison from flowing in," he said. "Every state, the poison is pouring in. We're going to stop the drugs. We're going to stop the drugs fast."
Michigan is going to experience crushing double digit hikes under Obamacare, he said.
Overall, the crowd was jubilant, and Trump seemed high energy and on script, many observers noted.
"(Is there) any place more fun to be than a Trump rally?" he asked, laughing as the crowd pumped fists and wildly cheered ... "Honestly, the subject right now isn't so positive because it's what's going on with the country, but we're going to make it positive, so positive."