Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday ripped the nation’s top brass to a room full of military veterans and active service members.
Speaking at the Commander-in-Chief forum, which aired on NBC and quoted by The Hill, Trump called the U.S. generals serving President Barack Obama an embarrassment to the country.
“The generals under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have not been successful,” the GOP presidential nominee charged.
“Under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton the generals have been reduced to rubble, reduced to a point where it is embarrassing for our country,” he continued.
NBC anchor Matt Lauer pressed Trump on the point, asking if he had lost faith entirely in the U.S. military.
Trump tempered his response, clarifying, “I have great faith in the military, great faith in certain of the commanders, but no faith in Hillary Clinton or the leadership. She’s been there for 30 years we need change, we have to have it.”
He also claimed that he could tell from “the body language” of the intelligence officials sent to brief him on classified information that they did not approve of the national security measures taken by Obama.
“What I did learn is that our leadership, Barack Obama, did not follow what our experts said and our truly - when I call it intelligence, it’s there for a reason - what our experts said to do. And I was very, very surprised,” Trump said, in comments quoted by The Guardian.
“In almost every instance. And I could tell - I’m pretty good with the body language, I could tell they were not happy. Our leaders did not follow what they were recommending,” he added.
Clinton, who appeared at the forum as well, defended her handling of classified information from a private email server.
Asked by Lauer about her handling of emails from a private server as Secretary of State, she said none of the emails she sent or received were marked top secret, secret or classified.
"I did exactly what I should have done and I take it very seriously, always have, always will,' she said, according to comments quoted by Reuters.
Clinton also said she regretted her decision as a U.S. senator from New York to vote in favor of the 2003 Iraq war, while also rejecting Trump's criticism of her support for U.S. intervention in Libya in 2011.
"Permitting there to be an ongoing civil war in Libya would be as threatening and as dangerous as what we are seeing in Syria," she said, while insisting American policies under her leadership at the State Department had helped promote security.
"We made the world safer," she said, according to Reuters.