Trump defends himself against accusation he ejected baby from rally

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defended himself  against reports that he threw a mother and her baby out of a rally in Virginia on Wednesday (August 3).

Speaking to supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump said that the media had lied about what actually took place.

During his wide-ranging speech, in which he tried to turn the tables on critics who have said he is unfit to be president, Trump called Democratic rival Hillary Clinton “unhinged” and “unbalanced”.

But he reserved most of his ire for the media and the way it had characterized the baby incident.

“I actually said the first time ‘All right keep the baby here, don’t worry about it’. Then after about two minutes I said ‘You know what, I’m going to counteract my order. Beautiful baby, if you take her outside that’s not so bad.’ That was it. The whole place laughed, we had a good time. The press came out with headlines – ‘Trump Throws Baby out of Arena’. So dishonest. I mean these are dishonest people,” said Trump.

At the event Trump at first appeared to reassure the mother of the crying baby that she did not need to leave the rally, only to change his mind a few minutes later.

But in Iowa Trump said the media was distorting what had been a lighthearted moment.

“I’ve heard so much about that beautiful baby, beautiful parents. So much. I don’t throw babies out, believe me. I love babies. I love my children, I love babies, I don’t throw babies out, believe me,” he said.

Trump’s campaign has fallen into disarray in recent weeks with the New York real estate billionaire openly feuding with the Muslim parents of a slain soldier and at loggerheads with the leadership of the Republican Party over his controversial comments and failure to endorse senior Republican congressional candidates.

Trump will reportedly take steps to right the ship on Friday and endorse U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan after expressing coolness toward him earlier this week.

With attention firmly fixed on his recent travails Trump sought to shift the focus on Friday to questions over the Obama administration’s handling of the release of five detainees by Iran in January.

Critics have asked whether the $400 million cash payment given to Iran at the time of the release amounted to a ransom, an accusation the Obama administration has firmly denied.

“So the 400 million dollars comes in the same day as the hostages go out or very close. And the hostages, do you all remember, when they waited and waited and nobody could understand why were they waiting?” said Trump.

“They wouldn’t be getting 400, I’ll tell you right now. They wouldn’t be getting ten cents. They wouldn’t’ be getting ten cents. And that deal, which was started by crooked Hillary Clinton, would never, that deal would never have been approved,” he added.

At the time, the United States said it had settled a long-standing Iranian claim at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague, releasing $400 million in funds frozen since 1981, plus $1.3 billion in interest that was owed to Iran.

Trump also addressed criticism of his foreign policy platform, saying that accusations that he wants to abandon NATO or other U.S. allies are unfounded.

In reality, said Trump, he only wants them to fulfill their financial obligations to organizations like NATO, or to pay a greater share of the cost of their protection.

If countries like Japan do not pay more, said Trump, the U.S. should make it clear that they may not protect them.

“You always have to be prepared to walk. I don’t think we’d walk, I don’t think it’s going to be necessary. It could be though. It could be that Japan will have to defend itself against North Korea,” he said.