Donald Trump continues to applaud Vladimir Putin following his declaration that Putin is a better president than Barack Obama on Wednesday. “That is not just unpatriotic and insulting to the people of our country, as well as to our commander-in-chief, it is scary”.
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When pressed about Trump in particular, the Speaker deflected: “I made my points about Putin right there let’s leave it at that”.
Trump’s praise for Putin’s “strong” leadership has already caused issues, said Evelyn Farkas, a former deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia in the Obama administration.
Trump stated of Putin that, “Certainly in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been”.
Meanwhile Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Trump’s “controversial” remarks about Putin and said Trump showed no signs of disassociating himself from the Russian leader, an observation also made in the French press.
The New York businessman also said he did not think Russia’s government was behind the hack of Democratic National Committee email servers. “What would Ronald Reagan say about a Republican nominee who attacks America’s generals and heaps praise on Russia’s president?”
Ms Clinton said she regretted her decision as a U.S. senator from NY to vote in favour of the much-criticised 2003 Iraq war and that Mr Trump had been in favour of it as well.
Trump, at a rally before thousands of supporters in Pensacola, Florida, laid out an aggressive national security policy with a beefed-up USA military “so strong that nobody’s going to mess with us”.
Mr Trump suggested at the event in which he and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton made back-to-back appearances, that USA generals had been stymied by the policies of Mr Obama and Ms Clinton, who served as the Democratic president’s first secretary of state. “And it’s a war that, when we got out, we got out the wrong way”.
On the U.S. intervention in Libya in 2011, Ms Clinton rejected Mr Trump’s criticism of her support for the effort as secretary of state. “Vladimir Putin is violating the sovereignty of neighboring countries”, Ryan said at his weekly news conference.
The event brought together the meticulously prepared Clinton, 68, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, and Trump, 70, a NY businessman whose brash, freewheeling style has allowed him to dominate the headlines during his campaign.
Clinton’s campaign also announced on Friday that an additional 15 retired US generals and admirals were endorsing her, bringing the total number of endorsements by retired military leaders to 110.
Apart from consulting with top generals, Trump remained vague on how he would defeat IS.
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Trump’s and Clinton’s intensifying political combat over national security came as Clinton’s lead in opinion polls has slipped in recent days.
