Those serious about security shouldn't support Donald Trump: John Podesta

The Clinton Campaign Chairman further said that Trump did not have the qualifications to be a responsible leader

Trump changes tune on tax hikes
Press Trust of India Washington
Last Updated : May 21 2016 | 1:54 PM IST
Questioning the foreign policy and national security credentials of Donald Trump, the rival Clinton Campaign has said that Americans who care about these issues should not stand with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"This is not about ideology -- it's about responsible leadership. Anyone who is serious about our national security, regardless of their party, should not stand with Trump," the Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta said.

"Every time Trump opens his mouth, he makes it even more clear that he doesn't have the qualifications or the temperament to be our Commander-in-Chief," Podesta said yesterday hours after Trump gave an interview in which he talked about foreign policy and national security issues.

"His interviews this morning were especially revealing, and even unhinged at times. He once again claimed that he can't share his great foreign policy ideas because he wants unpredictability," said the head of the Clinton Campaign.

Attacking Trump's foreign policy ideas, Podesta said Trump lied about his own record when he claimed that he opposed the Libya intervention and Iraq War.

Trump initially supported both of these interventions, he said.

"He recently cast doubt on our special relationship with the UK simply because David Cameron and London Mayor Sadiq Khan criticised his proposed Muslim ban, challenging the latter to an IQ test," Podesta said, adding that the US can't afford to have a Commander-in-Chief who has no understanding of foreign policy and no coherent agenda.

In his interview, Trump has said he would have stayed out of Libya and Iraq.

"I would have stayed out of Libya. Yeah. I would have stayed our of Iraq too. I would have stayed out of Syria and I wouldn't have fought so much for Assad, against Assad, because I thought that was a whole thing. You have Iran, which we made into a power. Iran now is a power because of us, because of some of the dumbest deals I have ever seen," he said.

"So now you have Iran and you have Russia in favor of Assad and we're supposed to fight the two of them. And at the same time, we're supposed to fight ISIS, who is fighting Assad. But I would go after ISIS -- big league," Trump said.
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First Published: May 21 2016 | 1:07 PM IST

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