US Electoral 2016 Updates: Donald Trump Praises Vladimir Putin at National Security Forum; Hillary Clinton Evades Questions Regarding Email Scandal
Donald Trump says the Russian leader is more worthy to receive his praise than Barack Obama. He also blasts Clinton, who dodges questions about her email scandal.
In an MSNBC town hall event Wednesday, focusing on national security, Republican presidential Donald Trump openly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump even said that the Russian leader was more worthy to receive his praise compared to US President Barack Obama.
The forum featured a back-to-back appearance by Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and was moderated by anchor Matt Lauer. Issues about enhancing the national security, support for the military, and many other prevailing topics were discussed. During the early part of the event, Lauer told the two nominees to avoid attacking each other. However, this was not observed.
He called me "brilliant"
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Trump had a number of kind remarks for Putin and he stated that this stemmed from the Russian leader calling him "brilliant". Trump said that he would take this as a compliment. The New York City real estate mogul said that Putin has been a president more than Obama has been and this has also earned his respect. He even said that the US is a divided country. Trump claimed that siding with Russia will help stop the Islamic State.
Trump vs. Clinton on national security
Clinton vowed that her administration will be a model of rock steadiness on foreign policy. Trump on, the other hand, said that he will make a lot of improvements starting with replacing some military leaders.
Hillary Clinton had to move her way past questions about the use of a private email server while she worked as secretary of state. She tried to assure the audience regarding her choices as secretary of state, especially her stance for Iraq in the Senate. Trump, on the other hand, openly uttered controversial statements without showing any restraint.
Trump underscored his view that allowing men and women to serve alongside each other is the cause of sexual assault cases in the military. He also revealed that there were official investigations that confirmed that Clinton and other administration officials did not follow expert advice on how to manage national security conflicts. In Philadelphia, where he delivered a speech before Wednesday's forum, he promised to expand the military, saying that the government arm is so depleted.
Clinton spent almost half of her speech dodging issues. She also acknowledged her mistake of voting to authorize the use of military force in Iraq when she was still a senator. She said that she has learned from this decision and has taken full responsibility for this.
MSNBC and NBC hosted the forum where Trump and Clinton appeared separately in front of a live audience consisting of veterans, active-duty personnel, and groups that support the candidates.
This event is in preparation for the standard presidential debates scheduled on three separate days and in three universities. The first presidential debate will be held at the Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on September 26.
