The former defense secretary and CIA director was met with chants of ‘no more war’ as he extolled Hillary Clinton’s qualities to be commander-in-chief

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Democratic delegates drowned out the former defense secretary Leon Panetta with a chant of “no more war” on Wednesday night, prompting convention organisers to turn the lights out in their section of the Wells Fargo arena and the protesters to light it themselves using cellphones.

Meet the Bernie Peacekeepers, the group trying to keep protests safe at the DNC Read more

The former CIA director was on stage to show his support for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. “In this election, there is only one candidate for president who has the experience, temperament and judgment to be commander-in-chief, and that is Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Panetta credited Clinton with supporting the decision to go after Osama bin Laden – “Hillary was clear: we have to go after Bin Laden” – and said she was determined to defeat “Isis, al-Qaida, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, terrorists who pervert the teachings of Islam to kill innocent people.”

Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) DNC shuts off lights over Bernie protestors chanting "no more war" during former defence secretary Panetta's speech. pic.twitter.com/hHRHMGDYdX

He added: “Meanwhile, Donald Trump says he gets his foreign policy experience from watching TV and running the Miss Universe pageant. If only it were funny. It is deadly serious. Donald Trump asks our troops to commit war crimes, endorses torture, spurns allies from Europe to Asia, suggests more countries to have nuclear weapons, and praises dictators from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin.”

But when Panetta referred to Trump’s call for a Russian hack on Clinton’s emails, he was interrupted by the chants, which were temporarily drowned out when Panetta said: “Donald Trump cannot become commander-in-chief.”

He added: “We cannot put an erratic finger on our nuclear weapons,” he says. “This is no time to roll the dice and gamble.” The chant changed to USA! USA!

When Panetta left the stage the DNC organisers turned the lights back on for the section that was chanting, many of whom appeared to come from Oregon.