The New York real estate mogul’s campaign swiftly shot back, with Trump spokesman Jason Miller calling Clinton’s attacks “unhinged and dishonest”. I said, I don’t know. “That’s the problem. That’s the hard thing for Matt Lauer to do, because it sounds like an opinion”.
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Critics from all over the political spectrum and many journalists blasted the “Today” show host for being out of his element during the broadcast.
“Every Republican holding or seeking office in this country should be asked if they agree with Donald Trump about these statements”, Clinton said, referring to Trump’s praise of Putin.
Clinton also slammed Trump for heaping praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin during an appearance at a commander in chief forum in the city on Wednesday, saying lauding Putin is “unpatriotic”. Trump’s supporters are especially enthusiastic: 75% say they’re more interested in this year’s face-offs than in previous years, compared with 58% of Clinton’s supporters.
Others consider that a dereliction of duty.
On Tuesday night, as Clinton traveled from Florida to suburban NY, reporters tried to invite her into another pastime of the campaign plane: rolling an orange down the aisle with a question written on it.
Experts point out the difficulties of doing that in real time, particularly in a hyper-partisan atmosphere. It’s a subtle difference. Hillary Clinton and her super PACs have spent over $130 million on negative political ads, and yet we are virtually tied (or better) in the most recent national polls and leading in numerous important swing states. On Thursday, Esquire appended an editor’s note to the piece noting that the Iraq War began in March 2003, more than a year before the article ran, “thus nullifying Trump’s timeline”.
Trump additionally courted controversy by repeating his assertions that the United States should have kept Iraq’s oil after the invasion in 2003 to ensure that to the victor go the spoils.
Either way, moderators at upcoming debates were put on notice. “Right now, part of the problem is nobody gets prosecuted”, he said. Challenged, she didn’t immediately have the back-up material available, enabling Trump to sail past the moment.
“How can someone like (Lauer) not set the record straight on Trump’s bogus claim of being against the war in Iraq?” tweeted Glenn Kessler, fact-checking at The Washington Post.
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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. Only 37% of North Carolina voters said they have a favorable opinion of Clinton, while a majority – 55% – said they have an unfavorable opinion.
