WASHINGTON — Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine called the arrest this week of the first U.S. law enforcement officer accused of supporting Islamic State militants “shocking.”
But he credited strong law enforcement tactics for the arrest and suggested his rival Republican Donald Trump’s policies would be harmful to U.S. intelligence sharing.
ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria are “deciding to try to inspire people here, there and everywhere because they know they’re losing on the battlefield,” Kaine said in an interview with WTOP Thursday. “The only way you beat that is with really good intelligence sharing, and a lot of that is intelligence sharing between the U.S. and our allies.”
The FBI arrested Nicholas Young, a 13-year veteran of D.C.’s Metro Transit Police Department, on Wednesday. Young, who had been tracked by FBI agents since 2010, is charged with attempting to aid the terrorist group by sending gift cards to what he believed were foreign militants to aid communication with Western recruits.
Trump, the Republican nominee, has controversially suggested the U.S. might abandon its military commitments under NATO.
“This is exactly the wrong time to put somebody in office like Donald Trump who wants to get rid of the alliances, who says we don’t need NATO anymore,” Kaine told WTOP. “No, we need strong alliances now more than ever, because when you have strong alliances, you share that intel and that enables you to catch people like the arrest that happened the other day.”
WTOP has reached out to the Trump campaign for an interview but has not heard back.
In the interview, Kaine also discussed his role, making the case for Hillary Clinton’s jobs program and the mood of the electorate.
Clinton’s five-part economic plan includes investments in manufacturing and infrastructure and a plan for “debt-free” college.
“Having been in the Senate, knowing colleagues on both sides of the aisle and both houses, I would be playing my role in that to really accelerate the American economy,” Kaine said, although he acknowledged “it will be tough,” especially if Republicans retain control of Congress.
Trump this week has been embroiled in controversy over his criticism of the family of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq and internal Republican party squabbles over an endorsement of House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Still, the Democrats have not been without controversies of their own.
Despite declining to recommend criminal charges, FBI Director James Comey said last month Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state was “extremely careless.”
Kaine, however, said Clinton has already explained enough about her email use.
“And as I go around talking to Virginians, this is not the issue they’re interested in,” he said. “They’re interested in the economy; they’re interested in America’s role in the world.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday the Obama administration shipped $400 million in cash to Iran around the time four American prisoners were released. The White House has strongly denied the cash payment was a ransom, instead saying it was to settle an old legal claim.
“We are a nation of laws,” Kaine said. “We are making claims against nations in international tribunals all the time, and claims are being made against us in those tribunals. And we were able to negotiate a sizable claim down to fraction of it, and then pay that claim. And that’s the way we do things — we’re a nation of laws.”
