Also Thursday, Clinton spoke about fighting IS during a brief press conference in NY, during which she also blasted Trump and his “admiration” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said he “was very, very surprised” to learn that Obama has not done “what our experts said to do” around the world.
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After McMullin was pressed to provide evidence for his claims, the third party candidate pointed to Trump’s campaign appointments and hiring, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was forced to resign amid scrutiny of his relationship with the former pro-Moscow government in Ukraine.
“The difference between me and my opponent on Vladimir Putin, and in all negotiations, is that I negotiate by creating leverage so I can extract a good deal for the United States”, Trump said, adding that Clinton negotiates but never gets anything of value for the United States.
“Maybe the Democrats are putting that out – who knows”, Trump said of the Clinton campaign’s accusations that Russian Federation is trying to rig the USA election in Trump’s favor.
“I think it’s probably unlikely”.
The New York businessman also said he did not think Russia’s government was behind the hack of Democratic National Committee email servers. US officials blame Russian government-backed hackers for pulling off the intrusion, which embarrassed Democrats and led to the resignation of the DNC chair.
Trump also sought on Friday to blame Clinton after reports that North Korea had tested a nuclear weapon, arguing it was the fourth such test since the Democrat became secretary of state in 2009 and that she should have ended the nation’s nuclear program before her tenure ended.
Critics have said Lauer did not seem prepared for his interviews with Clinton and Trump, and complained that he was too tough on Clinton and not tough enough on Trump, but Conway said most of the country agrees with Lauer.
Hillary thinks she can get away with this because she’s got the media trained to run with the interpretation of anything Trump says that will make him sound the most wild and irresponsible.
Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, defended Trump’s appearance to CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day” on Friday, saying that Trump wasn’t criticizing the USA to say the Iraq War was a failure. “And it is beyond one’s imagination to have a candidate for president praising a Russian autocrat like Vladimir Putin”.
Lewandowski then compared Putin’s influence on his population to that of President Obama’s.
Friday’s meeting and press conference, held at the storied New-York Historical Society, appeared staged to draw a stark contrast with Trump, whose comments this week raised further questions about his readiness to be commander in chief.
Pence also defended Trump’s comments that “the generals have been reduced to rubble” under the Obama administration, responding to critics that interpreted those words to mean Trump was putting down the United States military. “He’s been a stronger leader”.
Clinton was referring to an interview that Trump gave on Larry King’s show “PoliticKING With Larry King” on Ora TV, an online platform.
Numerous participants at Friday’s meeting – including former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, former CIA Director David Petraeus and former director of the National Counterterrorism Center Matt Olsen – served with Clinton in the Obama administration.
She did not hesitate to share her own plan for confronting IS, saying she would focus on boosting up what the USA has already been doing in Syria and Iraq, vowing to “intensify our air campaign, more support on the ground to the Arab and Kurdish fighters”, while also “pushing ISIS towards the Syrian border and pushing them out of Raqqa toward the Iraqi border”.
On Tuesday, 88 retired generals and admirals endorsed Trump.
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Recent polls show Trump within striking distance of Clinton in the presidential election, defying predictions in Washington that he is doomed in November.
