An investigator looks over a police car damaged during Friday's Planned Parenthood shooting spree in Colorado Springs. Trump dismisses Colorado shooter as a 'maniac'

Donald Trump on Sunday called the gunman who police say killed three people in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado a “maniac” but stopped short of criticizing the heated rhetoric that often surrounds the women’s health program and the issue of abortion.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” via telephone, Trump described the shooter, identified by police as Robert Lewis Dear, as mentally disturbed and “ready to go.”


Told by host Chuck Todd that Dear had reportedly spoken of “baby parts” to police, the Republican presidential front-runner defended the series of secretly recorded videos with Planned Parenthood officials that launched a fresh wave of conservative attacks against the organization.

“I will tell you there is a tremendous group of people that think it's terrible, all of the videos that they've seen with some of these people from Planned Parenthood, talking about it like you're selling parts to a car,” Trump said. “Now, I know some of the tapes were perhaps not pertinent. I know that a couple of people that are running for office on the Republican side were commenting on tapes that weren't appropriate. But there were many tapes that are appropriate in terms of commenting on.”

Trump's Planned Parenthood remarks followed verbal sparring between Todd and Trump over the billionaire real estate developer’s claims he saw video of Muslims in New Jersey, celebrating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

Todd criticized Trump’s continued defense of a story that has been widely criticized as exaggerated, if not false. But Trump refused to budge, again citing a Washington Post article that Trump said backs up his claim, as well as a massive response on social media from Americans who claim to be able to corroborate his story.

Trump also criticized President Barack Obama’s plan to allow Syrian refugees into the U.S., accusing the president of misleading the public as to exactly how many he plans to accept.

Citing unnamed sources, Trump said the Obama administration's intention was to admit 200,000 or more refugees. That's a far cry from the 10,000 Trump said Obama has publicly supported, or the 65,000 Trump claimed Democrats discussed in their most recent presidential debate.

“Even if it's 10,000, we can't have it. We can't have people coming in that we know nothing about. There is no paperwork, and for good reason,” Trump said. “This is going to be, or has the potential to be, one big, fat Trojan horse. And we cannot have that.”