--- title: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Respond to GOP Firebombing description: One blamed "animals," the other called the act "unacceptable." canonical: https://time.com/4533011/donald-trump-firebombing-gop-north-carolina-clinton/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-17T12:22:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:27.879Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Respond to GOP Firebombing og:description: One blamed "animals," the other called the act "unacceptable." og:url: https://time.com/4533011/donald-trump-firebombing-gop-north-carolina-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65821d19e4043bcf/6988aa30196cf44a7a03d93b/gop-office-damaged.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: GOP Office Damaged og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Respond to GOP Firebombing twitter:description: One blamed "animals," the other called the act "unacceptable." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65821d19e4043bcf/6988aa30196cf44a7a03d93b/gop-office-damaged.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says GOP Office Firebombed 'Because We Are Winning' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 17, 2016 12:22 PM UTC  A burnt couch is shown next to warped campaign signs at the Orange County Republican Headquarters in Hillsborough, NC, on Oct. 16 2016. A burnt couch is shown next to warped campaign signs at the Orange County Republican Headquarters in Hillsborough, NC, on Oct. 16 2016. Jonathan Drew—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 17, 2016 12:22 PM UTC After the North Carolina GOP headquarters was firebombed on Sunday, one of the presidential candidates blamed “animals” while the other called the act “unacceptable.” The incident comes amid heightened tensions on both sides of the political battlefield. Trump, who has been stoking fears that the election will be rigged as his poll numbers have continued to fall, said the attackers “represented” Democrats and Clinton supporters. According to the [_Charlotte Observer_](http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article108627627.html), Orange County, where the firebombing occurred, is home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and it is overwhelmingly Democratic. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/787782613633208320) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/787783828358258688) The North Carolina GOP responded to Trump via Twitter, thanking him and saying Republicans in the Tar Heel state will not be “silenced nor suppressed” by this heinous act. Around the same time Trump fired off a tweet, Secretary Clinton did the same. > [](https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/787763497308418052) The office responded to Clinton’s tweet as well, thanking her for her thoughts and prayers. Political leaders across North Carolina condemned the attack including Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who called the incident an “attack on our democracy.” “Violence has no place in our society – but especially in our elections,” he said in a[ statement.](http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article108627627.html) In response to the attack, some 551 people contributed to a GoFundMe set up by a [group of Democrats](https://www.gofundme.com/reopen-a-nc-republican-office-2ukuprzy) to help the North Carolina GOP rebuild. They raised over $13,000, surpassing their $10,000 goal, in 40 minutes, reports [_WNCN_](http://wncn.com/2016/10/17/group-of-democrats-create-gofundme-for-firebombed-ncgop-office-raise-13k-in-40-minutes/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4533011/donald-trump-firebombing-gop-north-carolina-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4533011/donald-trump-firebombing-gop-north-carolina-clinton/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says GOP Office Firebombed 'Because We Are Winning'","datePublished":"2016-10-17T12:22:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:27.879Z","description":"While the Republican nominee blamed \"animals,\" his rival called the act \"unacceptable\"","url":"https://time.com/4533011/donald-trump-firebombing-gop-north-carolina-clinton/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65821d19e4043bcf/6988aa30196cf44a7a03d93b/gop-office-damaged.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65821d19e4043bcf/6988aa30196cf44a7a03d93b/gop-office-damaged.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Office Damaged","caption":"A burnt couch is shown next to warped campaign signs at the Orange County Republican Headquarters in Hillsborough, NC, on Oct. 16 2016.","creditText":"Jonathan Drew—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4533011/donald-trump-firebombing-gop-north-carolina-clinton/","name":"Donald Trump Says GOP Office Firebombed 'Because We Are Winning'"}}]}] ```