Lauer is, as the New York Times put it, facing “storms of criticism” for letting Trump lie about things like his support for the Iraq war, which he often claims he never supported.
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Democratic presidentaial nominee Clinton pledged that the U.S. 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.
Trump said at the forum that he’d be open to “working” a way for undocumented immigrants to serve in the United States military – a sharp contrast to his tone during a speech in Arizona last week where he said he would focus on deporting undocumented immigrants from the country. The reception illustrated the pressure that will be on moderators for the three face-to-face debates between Clinton and Trump later this fall.
Ahead of the forum, Trump rolled out a new plan to boost military spending by tens of billions of dollars, including major increases in the number of active troops, fighter planes, Navy ships and submarines. Navy and Air Force pilots also participate daily in air attacks on the Islamic State terrorist group.
But Trump stood by a 2013 tweet that implied military sexual assault is a result of women serving in the military, when asked by Lauer. And Lauer, who is apparently a journalist of some sort, did a really great job of letting Trump lie to his face and get away with it, so it looks like we’re one step closer to having President TeenyHands paint the Oval Office in gold trim. “We have to come down very hard on that and do something about that”, he said.
Some of Trump’s foreign policy positions, such as his proposal to fight terrorism by imposing a temporary ban on listed Muslims entering the country, have alarmed not just Democrats but many in his own party’s leadership.
Trump: He said he thinks he would have a “very good relationship with many foreign leaders”, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“In nearly every instance, and I could tell, I’m pretty good with the body language, I could tell”.
“I think that that’s absolutely correct”, he said during the forum. “I took it very seriously”, Clinton rebutted.
The Democratic nominee brought in $62 million for her campaign last month and another $81 million for the Democratic National Committee and state parties. I make no excuses for it. And Hillary Clinton says the VA’s problems are being overblown, despite what independent Senate investigators found.
TRUMP: “I happen to hear Hillary Clinton say that I was not against the war in Iraq”.
Said Clinton: “They know they can count on me to be the kind of commander in chief who will protect our country and our troops, and they know they cannot count on Donald Trump”. “My opponent has refused to take responsibility for his support”.
Lauer’s reluctance to challenge Trump on Iraq and Libya does a disservice to viewers ― and voters.
Trump cherry-picked Clinton’s words when he claimed Clinton said “vets are being treated, essentially, just fine”. But her judgment has been called into question regarding that email server, and a veteran in the crowd told her she had “clearly corrupted our national security”, and that if he had mishandled classified information similarly “I would have been prosecuted and imprisoned”.
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President Barack Obama said Thursday that Republican Donald Trump confirms his belief that Trump isn’t qualified to be president “every time he speaks”, adding that he was confident Americans would ultimately reject the brash billionaire on Election Day.
