WASHINGTON (AP): Mike Pence is dismissing the reaction to Donald Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama is the “founder of ISIS” as a media-driven “controversy over semantics.”

Obama did not establish the Islamic State group.

Pence, Trump’s running mate, is nonetheless defending Trump’s comments by saying Obama and Hillary Clinton’s policies led to the rise of IS.

He says the pair undid hard fought gains in Iraq by withdrawing troops and creating a “vacuum” for the group to flourish.

The Indiana governor spoke Thursday during a town hall in La Crosse, Wisconsin.