Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton React To Brexit Vote
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The U.K. vote to withdraw from the European Union was the talk of both sides of the presidential race Friday, with Donald Trump endorsing the vote and Hillary Clinton issuing a warning.
As CBS2's Dana Tyler reported, Trump was in Scotland on Friday as he hailed the Brexit vote.
"I love to see people take their country back," he told reporters at a news conference at one of his golf courses in Scotland. "And that's really what's happening in the United States" and other parts of the world.
The campaign leading to Thursday's stunning vote for Britain to leave the European Union shared some of the nationalist, populist themes driving the Trump campaign, including a wariness of immigration, concern about borders and skepticism of the value of multinational organizations.
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"I think there are great similarities between what happened here and my campaign," he said. "People want to see borders. They don't necessarily want people pouring into their country that they don't know who they are and where they come from."
Trump, whose visit to Scotland is his first international trip since sealing sufficient delegate support to be the GOP standardbearer this fall, also predicted that other nations will follow the United Kingdom's lead.
"This will not be the last," he said earlier at a ceremony to mark the reopening of a golf resort he owns on Scotland's west coast. "They're angry about many, many things."
Trump, who called the vote "a great thing," said earlier this week that he hadn't closely followed the so-called Brexit vote but he had come out in support of the "Leave" movement. At the news conference, he described British Prime Minister David Cameron as "a good man" who "didn't get the mood of his country right."
Cameron had advocated for Britain to stay in the EU and announced earlier Friday that he would step down. The referendum to leave, which passed with nearly 52 percent of the vote, immediately rattled the rest of Europe, sending markets plunging.
Trump said he looks forward to working with the U.K. when he is elected, but that relationship might not come easy.
At one point, a protester interrupted Trump at the grand opening of his new luxury golf course, throwing golf balls with swastikas on them, CBS News' Jonathan Vigliotti reported. The groundbreaking was far from the celebration Trump imagined, Vigliotti reported. Every major local politician declined to attend, some specifically saying they disagree with his proposed ban on Muslims. Critics say Trump should be focusing on his campaign not his glitzy golf course.
"Really I wanted to support my children who've poured their hearts and souls into this development," Trump said.
Trump also suggested Friday that President Barack Obama is partially responsible for the Brexit outcome, saying some votes were cast as a protest against support for Britain to stay in the EU.
"If he had said no to it, I think the vote might have been different. He's constantly dictating what the world should do. The world doesn't listen to him." he said. Trump also criticized his likely general election foe Clinton, who sided with Obama, for "misreading" the situation.
But Obama said the Brexit vote will not change the United States' relationship with the U.K.
"We agreed that our economic and financial teams will remain in close contact as we stay focused on ensuring economic growth and financial stability," Obama said.
Obama had strongly urged that the U.K. remain in the EU but said in a statement that the people have spoken. The president said that the United Kingdom and the European Union will remain "indispensable partners of the United States'' even as they begin negotiating the future of their relationship.
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) said the vote now opens the door for America to take the lead.
"I do believe -- as an American -- we value the principle of sovereignty, self-determination, government by consent, and limited government," Ryan said. "These are very important principles, and these principles are being expressed here at home and around the world."
Meanwhile, Clinton said economic uncertainty sparked by Britain's choice to leave the European Union "underscores the need for calm, steady, experienced leadership in the White House.''
"We respect the choice the people of the United Kingdom have made. Our first task... has to be.... to make sure that the economic uncertainty created by these events... does not hurt working families here in America," Clinton said in part in a statement.
Like Obama and most British leaders, Clinton supported the "Remain'' effort, but said she respects the choice of British voters. The vote, she says, "underscores the need for us to pull together to solve our challenges as a country, not tear each other down.''
Clinton's campaign later called Trump's reaction to Britain's vote "dangerous and frightening.''
Trump reacted with "pathological self-congratulations,'' a lack of understanding about the situation and a focus on his own businesses rather than the economic impact on American families, say her aides.
Trump "actively rooted'' for the United Kingdom to leave the EU and is "rooting for the economic turmoil in its wake,'' Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Clinton's team argues that the economic downturn likely to follow the vote will prompt Americans to pick a more experienced leader.
When Americans see the impact on markets, said Clinton communications director Jen Palmieiri, "they're going to see the need for steady leadership.''
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also expressed concern about the economic impact.
"The idea of countries coming closer together is something that what we want to see, but on the other hand, a lot of people are being left behind in this global economy," he said.
Obama also said Friday that he spoke to Prime Minister David Cameron, and said the U.K. is committed to an orderly decision out of the EU.
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