Clinton was repeatedly challenged on her controversial email use at the State Department and her vote as a senator for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
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Instead, Trump spoke in vague terms about a plan for ISIS he says he won’t reveal for strategic reasons (“The word is unpredictable”) and about what he would do in the Middle East (“Take the oil”) – comments Clinton seized on Thursday morning.
Trump did little to counter the criticism that he lacks detailed policy proposals, particularly regarding the Islamic State group.
“Bringing Islam into the definition of our enemy actually serves the goal of the radical jihadists and there’s a lot of evidence of that”, she said, citing a Time magazine op-Ed by Matt Olsen, formerly a director of the National Counterterrorism Center under President Barack Obama.
“As North Carolina becomes more critical, especially in Donald Trump’s path to 270 this cycle, the RNC is growing its investment and ensuring we have resources and talent on the ground necessary”, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kara Carter said.
Lauer then asked Trump what about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who “annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, supports Assad in Syria, supports Iran, is trying to undermine our influence in key regions of the world”. “The man has very strong control over a country”, Mr Trump said. “I was very, very – but, that was superseded because before the war, much closer to the war, I gave statements that we shouldn’t go in”.
After months of avoiding press conferences, she held one on an airport tarmac in NY on Thursday morning.
When she was secretary, Clinton ran a criminal enterprise, Trump asserted, by granting favors to donors to the Clinton Foundation charity, and he accused her of smashing telephones with hammers to hide evidence from investigators. The candidates will face off for the first time on September 26th at Hofstra University, New York. Trump, speaking second, was not questioned by NBC moderator Matt Lauer on his public support for the US intervention in Iraq and Syria, which he now denies he ever voiced.
But the Clinton campaign acknowledged she had to spend more time focusing her remarks on herself so voters could see the “aspirational” vision she hopes to enact if she becomes the first woman elected USA president.
In her interview with Israel’s Channel 2, which was aired Thursday, Clinton said she found it “surprising how clear and compelling the case was where he quoted ISIS spokespeople rooting for Donald Trump because Trump has made Islam and Muslims part of his campaign”.
Another moment that stirred up controversy was when Trump stood by a 2013 tweet in which he seemed to suggest military sexual assault is simply expected if women choose to serve. And for the first time, he opened the door to granting legal status to people living in the USA illegally who join the military.
Republican opponents have no shortage of examples which they say demonstrate that it’s Clinton who expects deferential treatment. “I recognize that we still have tremendous work to do”.
Regarding his interview with Trump, Lauer was deemed too soft on the Republican nominee, especially since he failed to call the businessman’s bluff on his opposition to the Iraq War.
“Yeah, I guess so”, Trump responded.
With just two months until Election Day, national security has emerged as a centerpiece issue in the White House race.
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“She’s been there for 30 years”, Trump said. The individual branches of the military have their own police and investigative and prosecution services, and they enforce a set of laws known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
