Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, with “Today” show co-anchor Matt Lauer, left, speaks at the NBC Commander-In-Chief Forum held at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier Intrepid, New York, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016.
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Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson talks with Here & Now security analyst Jim Walsh about the forum, and whether it revealed anything new or substantive about how Clinton or Trump would handle national security issues as president. She said her vote to authorize the Iraq War was a “mistake”, then vowed: “We are not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again and we are not putting ground troops into Syria”.
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.
A senior adviser said ahead of the speech that Trump would make sure the additional spending was fully paid for but did not explain how.
Trump has also made destruction of Islamic State a key plank of his foreign policy strategy, saying he would get military generals to present him with a plan within 30 days of taking office.
Trump said at the forum that USA military generals had been “reduced to rubble” under Obama “to a point where it’s embarrassing to our country” and suggested that he might fire some of them.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton defended her handling of classified information as secretary of state, insisting she did not jeopardise national security by discussing the Obama administration’s drone programme and other sensitive matters on a personal email account.
“I’m asking to be judged on the totality of my record”, said Clinton, who grew visibly irritated at times with the repeated focus on her past actions.
What’s more, while Lauer did ask the GOP presidential nominee about “things that you later regret”, he didn’t press Trump on some of his most provocative remarks. And for the first time, he opened the door to granting legal status to people living in the US illegally who join the military.
The Times did note that Lauer pushed Trump on a controversial 2013 Twitter message the real estate mogul wrote where he argued sexual assaults in the armed services were an unsurprising byproduct of men and women being allowed to serve alongside one another in the military. “And I could see myself working that out”. He replied, “Yeah, I guess so”.
Trump and Clinton, now just two months from the November 8 election to replace Obama when he leaves office in January, are set to square off in their first debate September 26, with two others scheduled in October.
“I would never comment on any aspect of an intelligence briefing I received”, said Clinton, a former secretary of state, before boarding her campaign plane. He has no military experience and has repeatedly criticized the skill of the armed forces.
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Her case has been bolstered by numerous Republican national security experts who have spoken out against their party’s nominee, including former defence secretary William Cohen, who announced his support for Ms Clinton yesterday. Interviewing Donald Trump and challenging him when he is wrong is the unique challenge of our time.
