She drew an implicit contrast with Mr Trump when asked for the most important quality a commander in chief must possess, replying: “Steadiness, an absolute rock steadiness, mixed with strength to make the hard decisions”.
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The deck was stacked against Clinton at last night’s NBC presidential forum. The Republican defended his preparedness to be commander in chief despite vague plans for tackling global challenges and the Democrat argued that her controversial email practices did not expose questionable judgment.
On Trump’s suggestion that the USA should “take the oil” to defeat ISIS, Clinton smirked saying that is not how the fight against global terrorism will be fought and won.
Clinton could also be vulnerable to Americans’ worries about terrorism – particularly the Islamic State’s designs on the West – and criticism that Obama hasn’t done enough to combat extremism emanating from the Middle East.
In an earlier interview with Israeli TV, Clinton said jihadists are so eager for Trump to win the presidential election, they are offering this prayer to their God: “Oh please, Allah, make Trump president of America”.
“Every Republican holding or seeking office in this country should be asked if they agree with Donald Trump about these statements”, Clinton said in a news conference the morning after both candidates appeared at a national security forum.
“Bizarrely, once again, he praised Russia’s strong man Vladimir Putin”, she said, noting that Trump had said he preferred the foreign leader to President Obama.
Clinton announced that said she will convene a bipartisan meeting of national security leaders on Friday.
“What I did learn is that our leadership, Barack Obama, did not follow what our experts and our truly – when they call it intelligence, it’s there for a reason, what our experts said to do”, he said during the forum. He said he would feel more comfortable with Clinton having access to nuclear codes. “Look, I have a very substantial chance of winning”, he said.
According to notes released from her interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she said she relied on others with knowledge about handling classified files. The candidates will face off for the first time on September 26 at Hofstra University.
By virtue of a coin flip, Clinton took the stage first and quickly found herself responding at length to questions about her years in government. Meanwhile, he spent a third of his time with Clinton on questions about her private email server, meaning that he had nearly no time to ask her about anything else.
Clinton, also asked about the issue, pointed to her recently rolled out mental health policy agenda. “Nothing – and I will repeat this, and this is verified in the report by the Department of Justice, none of the emails sent or received by me had such a header”, said Clinton.
Speaking at a televised national security forum, Clinton also defended her support for US military intervention in Libya, despite the chaos that has consumed that country since then.
Democratic presidentaial nominee Clinton pledged that the United States was “not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again, and we are not putting ground troops into Syria”, while the Republican nominee disagreed, reported the Guardian.
He said immigrants who are not citizens should be allowed to serve in the military: “It would be a very special circumstance, yes”. “And I could see myself working that out”.
The Republican also repeated an incorrect claim that he was opposed to the war with Iraq before the invasion.
The appearances mark an intense, two-day focus on national security by Trump, who has offered tough rhetoric on America’s challenges overseas but few details.
Clinton said Republicans holding or seeking office across the country should be pressed on whether they agree with Trump’s comments, including his views on Putin and U.S. generals that surfaced during the forum. He has no military experience and has repeatedly criticized the skill of the armed forces. But when the issue persisted ten minutes into the 30-minute segment, and he was later forced to tell Clinton to be “brief” on the subject of ISIS, he was slammed for dedicating so much time to the topic.
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The Democratic presidential nominee spent nearly a third of her allotted half-hour explaining and apologizing for her use of a private email server while Secretary of State.
