POLITICO Screen grab Clinton camp hits Trump for contradicting plans to defeat Islamic State

Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook took Donald Trump to task Thursday after the GOP presidential nominee waffled on his claim that he has a plan to defeat the Islamic State during a televised forum on NBC.

During the forum Wednesday night, broadcast from the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York, Trump declined to lay out specifics of his plan to defeat the Islamic State, arguing that broadcasting his strategy would surrender a tactical advantage to the militant group. But earlier, Trump said he would “ask my generals to present me with a plan within 30 days to defeat and destroy ISIS."


Mook said Thursday that the reason Trump won’t share his plan to do battle with the Islamic State is because he has no plan at all.

“What was really scary, George, was he keeps talking about the secret plan that he has to defeat ISIS,” Mook told “Good Morning America” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Thursday, using the popular acronym for the Islamic State. “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.”

“Hillary Clinton has actually released a plan, a detailed plan on how to defeat ISIS. Donald Trump has said he has one. He's keeping it secret,” Mook continued later in the interview. “But, again, last night it was clear there just isn't a plan and he's trying to hide from that and he lashed out at our nation's generals when he was asked for details.”

Mook continued, saying Trump gave voters a clear picture of why he is “simply unfit for the job” of president.

“He insults at our generals. He said that men and women were not capable of serving together in our military. He showered praise again on Vladimir Putin despite moderator Matt Lauer walking through all of the regrettable things that he's done,” Mook said during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “So I think voters really saw that difference and saw only one candidate was prepared to be commander in chief and that's Hillary Clinton.”

Neither candidate fared especially well on the hour-long special. Clinton, who faced a series of questions from Lauer on her use of a personal email server during her tenure as secretary of state, has been criticized for appearing uncomfortable and at times defensive during her half of the program. Trump, on the other hand, appeared confident but also lacked Clinton’s mastery of the subject matter.

