Calling the United States "weakly led" by President Barack Obama, GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday that if he were in the White House he would begin "extreme vetting" of people from countries connected to terrorism.
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” Trump also said, “This is war.”
He spoke after a truck carrying weapons and hand grenades drove onto a sidewalk in Nice, France, and plowed through people celebrating Bastille Day, killing at least 80 people.
Trump said to fight the Islamic State, which he called a “cancer,” NATO should be used “for a purpose.”
He would go to Congress and ask for a “declaration of war” to combat global terrorism.
“I would, I would,” said Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, responding to Bill O'Reilly. “This is war. If you look at it, this is war. Coming from all different parts. And frankly it’s war, and we’re dealing with people without uniforms. In the old days, we would have uniforms. You would know who you’re fighting.”
He also said he would use NATO forces to wage war on terrorist groups.
“I’ve been saying it: We should use NATO for a purpose,” Mr. Trump said, reprising some of his criticisms of the alliance from the campaign trail.
Trump also was interviewed on Fox News Channel's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" just as news was coming in on the apparent terror attack
in Nice, France that killed at least 73. The interview was recorded before Trump announced he would be postponing Friday's scheduled announcement of his running mate.
He tweeted out a similar statement before his appearance was aired.
Van Susteren asked Trump what he would do if he were president, and he said, "I would be making it very, very hard for people to come into our country, for one thing, from terrorist areas. I would be so extreme in terms of documentation."
Trump slammed Obama and Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton over the policy of allowing Syrian refugees into the United States despite fears that Islamic State terrorists could be embedded among them.
"They have no paperwork many times," he said. "They don't have documentation proper.… I would not allow people to come in from terrorist nations. I would do extreme vetting. I would call it extreme vetting, too."
Though he said he is talking about the United States, he is "almost talking about the world."
Obama should be using the term "radical Islam" to describe terrorists, but refuses, he added.
"Generally speaking, I don't think the people come out of Sweden," he said. "You are never going to solve this problem unless you can define it."
Trump later called Fox News reporter Carl Cameron, to say such attacks are getting worse and more frequent.