Clinton tries to salt Trump's wounds The former secretary of state holds a rare press conference to condemn Trump for his trash talk about generals.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign sought to fan the flames around Donald Trump on Thursday after the Republican nominee asserted that U.S. “generals have been reduced to rubble” and suggested that some top military officials need to be booted.

The former secretary of state convened a rare press conference on the tarmac of West Plains, New York, and proceeded to lash her rival for bad-mouthing the military.


“Let me be clear. Last night was yet another test, and Donald Trump failed yet again,” Clinton said, before taking a few questions. “We saw more evidence that he is temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be commander in chief. He trash talked American generals, saying they'd been, quote, 'reduced to rubble.' He suggested he would fire them and replace them with his handpicked generals.”

Trump’s rubble remark came during NBC’s commander in chief forum, a sort of debate dry run that put the candidates on stage for back-to-back half hours, answering questions on national security from “Today” show host Matt Lauer. Trump, who followed Clinton, as usual refused to detail any part of his plan to combat the Islamic State, arguing that divulging military plans would put the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage.

Clinton's campaign was eager to jump into the news Thursday morning after last night's forum, looking to have the last word on foreign policy by addressing reporters before taking off for a campaign stop in North Carolina.

“He attacked dozens of former flag officers by saying that, quote, ‘we've been losing for a long time,’” Clinton said at her press conference Thursday morning. “That's how he talks about distinguished men and women who have spent their lives serving our country, sacrificing for us. That's how he would act as commander in chief.”

Clinton wasn’t given high marks for her performance Wednesday night, either. She looked uncomfortable as she was pressed repeatedly about the scandal around her use of a private email server while at the State Department — a controversy that continues to produce new twists and turns. She also struggled to clearly and forcefully express her plan to keep America safe from foreign threats.

“Last night Hillary Clinton again failed the commander-in-chief test, where she was unable to answer for her terrible foreign policy judgment, mishandling of classified information and claims that the VA wait time scandal was overblown," Trump senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement on Thursday. "It’s no surprise she’s resorting to unhinged and dishonest attacks, including claiming on Israeli TV that terrorists are praying for Mr. Trump to win. These are the desperate attacks of a flailing campaign sinking in the polls, and characteristics of someone woefully unfit for the presidency of the United States.”

But it was Trump who was widely panned for his loose grip on national security and foreign policy issues, his refusal to describe how he would defeat the Islamic State, his claim that he was always against the Iraq War, his contention that his Mexico trip was a huge success, and his decision to provide a readout from his confidential intelligence briefings.

Sensing an opportunity to project a more dignified air, Clinton announced Thursday morning that she would be meeting with a bipartisan group of national security figures on Friday, including former Homeland Security Secretaries Janet Napolitano and Michael Chertoff — a George W. Bush administration veteran, and ousted former CIA Director David Petraeus.

Trump quickly knocked Clinton’s attempt to pile on.

“Hillary just gave a disastrous news conference on the tarmac to make up for poor performance last night. She's being decimated by the media!” the Manhattan billionaire tweeted Thursday morning.

He also kept up his boasts about his forum performance, tweeting, “Wow, reviews are in - THANK YOU!” after having written the prior night, “Thank you to our fantastic veterans. The reviews and polls from almost everyone of my Commander-in-Chief presentation were great. Nice!”

Trump later on Thursday offered up a forceful defense of his past views on the Iraq War, accusing the media for twisting his words. “Iraq is one of the biggest differences in this race. I opposed going in, and I did oppose it, despite the media saying, no, yes, no,” Trump said at a campaign event on education. “I opposed going in. And I opposed the reckless way Hillary Clinton took us out, along with President Obama, letting ISIS fill that big, terrible void.”

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a close adviser to Trump’s campaign, also defended the nominee, saying Thursday morning that Trump was “absolutely right” with his rubble comment on generals. The former Defense Intelligence Agency director under President Barack Obama said Trump’s remark was directed not at the military but instead at the president’s leadership, which he said has held America back.

“He's absolutely right. There's a severe disconnect between this White House and, frankly, the president and our military,” Flynn said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “I mean, there's a lot of frustration within the ranks and there's a lot of frustration I know in the senior leadership about what we're not able to do.”

“I mean, there's no enemy that's unbeatable. And what we have right now, is we have over 4½, five years of fighting ISIS now as though they're some unbeatable enemy. There's, again, an enormous frustration,” he continued.

Flynn said Trump has “enormous respect” for the U.S. military and intelligence community, a different characterization than that of Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, who said the GOP nominee “lashed out at our nation's generals when he was asked for details” on his national security plans.

Mook told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that “voters really saw that difference and saw only one candidate was prepared to be commander in chief and that's Hillary Clinton.”

“What was really scary, George, was he keeps talking about the secret plan that he has to defeat ISIS,” Mook told anchor George Stephanopoulos. “What was clear last night was, there's really no plan at all. And that's what's scary is, first of all, he doesn't seem to have the judgment or temperament to make good decisions as commander in chief, but he doesn't have any plans and he certainly didn't have command of the issues or the questions that he was being asked.”