The crowd did its bit, cheering lustily as she recalled urging the president to launch the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 (“You go girl!” shouted a woman).
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Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, called Clinton’s press conference a “desperate” attempt to distract from a poor performance at the forum in which she “again failed the commander-in-chief test”.
Donald Trump has suggested that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had been a better leader than US President Barack Obama.
“I think my single greatest asset, of any assets I have, is my temperament”, Trump declared in North Carolina on Tuesday, fighting to undercut arguments that his erratic disposition is a major liability.
Trump and Clinton spoke back-to-back Wednesday night, each fielding 30 minutes of questions. A Republican member of the audience charged that she had “corrupted” national security by mishandling e-mails at the State Department, and a Democrat asked sceptically about her “hawkish” foreign policy. The “commander in chief” national security forum, hosted by NBC, will serve as something of a preview for voters of the candidates’ highly anticipated trio of debates later this fall.
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.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton says that Donald Trump’s failure to spell out a plan to defeat the self-described Islamic State is “not only risky but should be disqualifying” for the office of the presidency. It was aimed at rebutting Clinton’s arguments that she would be best positioned to lead the military and reassuring Republicans who have openly anxious that his provocative statements might undermine USA alliances.
Taking a handful questions from her traveling press corps behind a podium for the first time in more than 270 days, Clinton brushed off queries about why she wasn’t polling more strongly against Trump and whether she was bothered by what some have seen as a sexist slant in the coverage of her campaign.
Clinton, who has cast Trump as dangerously ill-prepared to be commander in chief, tried to center the discussion on her foreign policy proposals.
“The Generals have been reduced to rubble”, Trump said, when pressed on the assertion he made during his campaign that he knows more about Islamic State than military Generals.
The two struck a pointed contrast on deploying ground troops to Iraq during the town hall held in NY on Wednesday by NBC News and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
The Republican also repeated an incorrect claim that he was opposed to the war with Iraq before the invasion. Both candidates believe they have the upper hand, with Clinton contrasting her experience with Trump’s unpredictability and the Republican arguing that Americans anxious about their safety will be left with more of the same if they elect President Barack Obama’s former secretary of state.
The US now has roughly 5,000 troops deployed in Iraq, mostly as official non-combat advisers for the Iraqi military, along with special operations forces. Her case has been bolstered by numerous Republican national security experts who have spoken out against their party’s nominee, including former Defense Secretary William Cohen who announced his support for Clinton on Wednesday.
And while she said she doesn’t sympathize with Republicans who find themselves torn over Trump – after all, they chose him to be their nominee, she noted – she said she recognized their “terrible dilemma”.
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Pace reported from Washington.
