The reception illustrated the pressure that will be on moderators for the three face-to-face debates between Clinton and Trump later this fall.
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Lauer’s role at the Wednesday night forum was to both moderate and conduct back-to-back live interviews with the two candidates about issues important to the American public. He has insisted that Islamic State is “laughing” at Clinton and has even asserted, repeatedly, that she and President Obama help found the terrorist group. She pointed to a recent article by former National Counter-Terrorism Center director Matthew Olsen to back up her point.
“They are saying, ‘Please Allah”.
“I would never comment on any aspect of an intelligence briefing I received”, Clinton, a former secretary of state, said. “I will not trash our country’s most cherished values – I will defend them”.
That style helped propel Trump through the primaries, including in states like SC, where exit polling showed 78% of Trump voters said his “tell-it-like-it-is” style was his most important quality.
Given that the briefers do not give policy advice but simply lay out the facts, Trump said he divined the problem because “I’m pretty good with body language, I could tell they were not happy”.
House Speaker Paul Ryan accused Clinton of “fear mongering”.
Clinton, speaking to a crowd of about 1,500 in Charlotte, N.C., went down a laundry list of reasons why she thinks Trump lacks the judgment to lead the country, including his praise for Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
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.
According to federal agents, Parezanin was stopped at a border checkpoint on Interstate 8 in California in November, and agents became suspicious after her answers didn’t make sense.
Netanyahu bitterly opposed the deal, even traveling to Washington to lobby Congress to oppose it. He says it leaves too much of Iran’s nuclear program intact and will pave the way for the Islamic Republic to develop the capability to make a nuclear bomb in the coming years. Trump has vowed to “dismantle” the deal.
Overall, 53% of likely voters say they think the Democratic nominee will do a better job in the debates, while 43% expect her GOP rival to walk away the victor.
She said the deal “does not in any way” excuse Iranian behavior, such as its support for militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas and development of long-range ballistic missiles.
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Most voters see Clinton’s family foundation, which has come under sharp criticism from Trump over how donors to the foundation interacted with Clinton while she was secretary of state, as an organization that should be shuttered if Clinton is elected to avoid possible conflict of interest, with a sizable share saying it should be closed down now.
