Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump reiterated his opposition to the Iraq War at a North Carolina rally on Tuesday, in which he repeated his usual talking point that the US should have never removed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein because he “killed terrorists.”

“He did that so good,” Trump said. “They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were terrorists. It was over.

“Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It’s like Harvard, okay? So sad,” he said.

But, as the Washington Post pointed out, Trump has been talking about Hussein killing terrorists for months now, and the line has become one of his regular talking points.

Here’s Trump mentioning it to CNN’s Jake Tapper in October of 2015:

And here Trump is again mentioning it to CBS News during the South Carolina primary:

So why suddenly the outrage from Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton and the mainstream media?

Daily Mail political editor David Martosko suggested that it has more to do with Clinton than Trump.

https://twitter.com/dmartosko/status/750534666885693440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Trump’s comments came the same day that FBI director James Comey, while not suggesting criminal charges, blasted Clinton for being “extremely careless” as Secretary of State when it came to mishandling top secret and classified information.

Ironically, on the bad news day for Clinton, the media picks up a controversial story about Trump that is at least 1o months old.

Twitter users also speculated about the timing between the bad Clinton news and the mainstream media outrage over Trump.

Trump in Oct.: Saddam killed terrorist (crickets)

Trump in July: Saddam killed terrorists (lib media: #Hillary's in trouble! Attack!) — Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) July 6, 2016

#Trump said Hussein was a very bad man, terrible guy and he just dealt with terrorist better then #Obama. Media distracting from #Hillary — Shane Flannagan (@shaneflannagan) July 6, 2016

https://twitter.com/M_Foresta/status/750531899408482304

https://twitter.com/MikeMcDonald901/status/750501834708676608

The liberal media is being intentionally obtuse about anything Trump says, while Hillary can get away with breaking the law.

Saddam Hussein — The War on SJWs (@TheWaronSJWs) July 6, 2016

Trump said it a dozen times. It became an outrage when Hillary’s campaign told reporters it was an outrage: https://t.co/APmkHn8vvA — Tim Carney (@TPCarney) July 6, 2016

Lying Media runs interference for Clinton after she escapes indictment by amping up Trump's Saddam comments. Swamping news of crook Hillary. — Toks David ?? (@go_finger) July 6, 2016

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