“I think that that’s absolutely correct”, he said during the forum.
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The Clinton campaign criticized Trump’s “bizarre admiration” for Putin, saying in a statement that “his embrace of pro-Kremlin policies that undercut American interests and threaten our allies, and his campaign’s deep ties to Russian Federation have been a cause for great alarm across the board”. He seemed to narrowly shift his approach on immigration by indicating he’s open to allowing undocumented residents to serve in the USA military. “I’ve already said he is really very much of a leader”. The forum is hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “There is no evidence my system was hacked”.
A retired naval flight officer asked Clinton how servicemembers should have any confidence in her ability to be president after her mishandling of sensitive information. She said communicated about classified material on “a wholly separate system”, without elaboration. She said none of e-mails she sent or received had a header denoting a high level of classification. Meanwhile Trump again praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, and continued a streak of shifting statements on immigration by saying he was open to letting undocumented immigrants who want to serve in the military stay in the U.S.
He argued it was the generals serving under the current Democratic president who were ill-prepared, and said he would change leadership if elected. “I’m not going to call you up and say, ‘Matt, we have a great plan.’ This is what Obama does”, Trump said.
As for Trump’s attacks, Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri said the Republican candidate is reduced to “taunts and insults” because he can not otherwise defend his own record.
“Her foreign policy destroyed the Middle East”, Trump told Fox News’ “Hannity”. “I have taken responsibility for my decision”, she said of the Iraq war. He decried nation building and attempts to spread democracy to other countries, citing the Iraq war as an example. You can go back and look at the record.
Trump faced more questions about his temperament and his admission had said some things on the campaign trail he regretted. He described his trip to Mexico last week as a success because the officials there who help arrange it “have been forced out of government”.
The real estate mogul and reality TV star leads Clinton by 19 points among troops and veterans, according to a poll Wednesday by NBC News and Survey Monkey.
Meanwhile, Trump brushed aside questions over his experience and temperament and attacked Clinton’s record overseas, especially in the Middle East. Clinton, when asked about her vote to authorize the war, said: “I have said that my voting to give President Bush that authority was, from my perspective, my mistake”, she said. Trump returned to his quick-fire political rhetoric that he has shied away from since an immigration speech in Phoenix, Arizona. “We have to squeeze them by continuing to support – the Iraqi military”.
The forum offered a preview of how the two candidates will present themselves to the country when they appear on stage September 26 at the crucial first presidential debate.
But both candidates remain unpopular with a majority of the public. Among likely voters in a CNN/ORC
Clinton said the deal allows enough insight into Iran’s actions to ensure they’re following the rules.
Both campaigns will have fodder for refreshed attacks after the appearances Wednesday.
She “has taught us really how vulnerable we are to cyber hacking”, Trump said, adding that it was “probably the only thing that we’ve learned from Hillary Clinton”.
Questions over Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state consumed a third of her time on stage in the Intrepid’s hangar bay. He declined to answer whether he thought he knew more about Islamic State than US general as he said a year ago. Sexual assault in the military “is happening and by the way since then it’s gotten worse”, Trump added, saying he believed more people should be prosecuted for sexual crimes in the military’s own court systems.
Another hard moment from Trump came when Lauer asked Trump about his 2013 tweet that said, in response to the rise in military sexual assaults, “what did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
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“Well, it is, it is a correct tweet”, Trump said.
