Trump: Clinton policy on Syria would lead to World War Three
In interview with Reuters, the Republican presidential nominee blasts rival's Middle East policy, saying 'We should focus on ISIS, we should not be focusing on Syria'; Republicans meanwhile shift their efforts to congressional races as Trump and Clinton stop in-person fundraising activities to focus on final 2 weeks before Election Day.
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Democrat Hillary Clinton's plan for Syria would "lead to World War Three," because of the potential for conflict with military forces from nuclear-armed Russia.
In an interview focused largely on foreign policy, Trump said defeating Islamic State is a higher priority than persuading Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, playing down a long-held goal of US policy.
Trump questioned how Clinton would negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin after demonizing him; blamed President Barack Obama for a downturn in US relations with the Philippines under its new president, Rodrigo Duterte; bemoaned a lack of Republican unity behind his candidacy, and said he would easily win the election if the party leaders would support him.
"If we had party unity, we couldn't lose this election to Hillary Clinton," he said.
Clinton has called for the establishment of a no-fly zone and "safe zones" on the ground to protect non-combatants. Some analysts fear that protecting those zones could bring the United States into direct conflict with Russian fighter jets.
"What we should do is focus on ISIS. We should not be focusing on Syria," said Trump as he dined on fried eggs and sausage at his Trump National Doral golf resort. "You're going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton.
"You're not fighting Syria any more, you're fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, all right? Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk," he said.
Clinton's campaign dismissed the criticism, noting that both Republican and Democratic national security experts have denounced Trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief.
"Once again, he is parroting Putin's talking points and playing to Americans' fears, all while refusing to lay out any plans of his own for defeating ISIS or alleviating humanitarian suffering in Syria," Clinton spokesman Jesse Lehrich said in a statement.
Trump said Assad is much stronger now than he was three years ago and said getting Assad to leave power was less important than defeating Islamic State.
"Assad is secondary, to me, to ISIS," he said.
Obama focus 'on his golf game'
The two candidates have sparred in recent days over the US-backed Iraqi military push to take the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State, which Trump described as a "total disaster."
"He's declaring defeat before the battle has even started," Clinton, who was secretary of state during Obama's first term, said on Tuesday.
On Russia, Trump again knocked Clinton's handling of US-Russian relations while secretary of state and said her harsh criticism of Putin raised questions about "how she is going to go back and negotiate with this man who she has made to be so evil," if she wins the presidency.
On the deterioration of ties with the Philippines, Trump aimed his criticism at Obama, saying the president "wants to focus on his golf game" rather than engage with world leaders.
Since assuming office, Duterte has expressed open hostility toward the United States, rejecting criticism of his violent anti-drug clampdown, using an expletive to describe Obama and telling the United States not to treat his country "like a dog with a leash."
The Obama administration has expressed optimism that the two countries can remain firm allies.
Trump said Duterte's latest comments showed "a lack of respect for our country."
He also asserted that President Obama should be investigated over a private email server Hillary Clinton used while secretary of state, saying Obama "knew all about" her email arrangements.
"That's why he stuck up for Hillary, because he didn't want to be dragged in. Because he knew all about her private server," Trump said. "This means that he has to be investigated."
The White House declined to comment on Trump's allegations. Spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters earlier on Tuesday that while the president had Clinton's personal email address, which she used instead of government systems, he did not know where her server was located or other details.
WikiLeaks on Tuesday released a batch of hacked emails from the account of Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, which showed her Democratic presidential campaign reacting after Obama said in a television interview that he learned of the private email server through news reports.
"We need to clean this up - he has emails from her - they do not say state.gov," Cheryl Mills, a longtime Clinton aide, wrote in an email to Podesta after Obama made the comments in a March 2015 television interview. "State.gov" is the State Department's internet domain name, and its presence in the sender's email address would indicate it came from an official account.
The State Department said in January it found 18 instances of messages between Clinton and Obama among the roughly 30,000 work emails Clinton returned to the department in 2014. None have been released because of a law that protects presidential communications from becoming public for several years.
Trump's interview with Reuters comes two weeks before the Nov. 8 election, with Trump trailing badly in the polls. He repeated his assertion that the "media is rigging the polls" and said his supporters were upset with Republican Party leadership.
"The people are very angry with the leadership of this party, because this is an election that we will win 100 percent if we had support from the top. I think we're going to win it anyway."
He said if he wins he would not consider putting Democrats in his cabinet but would work with them on legislation.
Shifting focus to congressional race
The Republican party, meanwhile, has shifted its focus to its congressional candidates, upping fundraising efforts and appealing to voters by saying they will check Clinton's agenda.
Indiana Republican Trey Hollingsworth says in one TV ad that he's running for Congress to stop three Democrats—opponent Shelli Yoder, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—from imposing "higher taxes and government-run health care." In another spot, the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund attacks the Democratic Senate challenger in Missouri by saying, "It's surprising how many ways Jason Kander is just like Hillary Clinton."
Some of the ads are being funded by a last-minute infusion of cash from the Senate Leadership Fund, a major super PAC focused on Senate races and run by allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The group announced Tuesday it is spending $25 million for the final stretch in six key states: Indiana, New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Missouri.
The investment comes after public complaints from the Republican Party's Senate committee that it faced being outspent badly by Democrats in the election's final stretch. GOP outside groups are responding, including additional investments by the Chamber of Commerce.
Republicans hope that a loathing for Clinton will drive voters to the polls who otherwise might stay home because of their aversion to Trump.
A new fundraising email from House Speaker Paul Ryan's political operation, over former Speaker Newt Gingrich's signature, seeks contributions "to ensure the last line of defense for conservative values doesn't fall into the clutches of Hillary." After months of clashes, Ryan has refused to campaign for Trump and the presidential candidate has savaged the speaker on Twitter.
Asked why Ryan was adopting the check-and-balance approach, spokesman Zack Roday said Ryan "is focused on beating Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, on Election Day" and "committed to preserving our congressional majorities."
Trump, Clinton, move focus to Election Day
And while the Republicans are busy with last-minute fundraising, Trump and Clinton have halted their in-person fundraising activities to focus on the hectic final two weeks until Election Day.
Trump last mingled with donors Monday morning at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and Clinton made her final fundraising stop Tuesday evening in Miami.
But that doesn't mean the campaign cash will stop flowing. Clinton's surrogates will continue attending fundraisers on her behalf, and the candidates have robust online fundraising operations.
In addition, Trump has asked his campaign to cut back on work identifying candidates for key jobs in his would-be administration and focus instead on bolstering his chances on Election Day.
People working on Trump's White House transition, which is led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, have been asked by Trump to narrow down those efforts and refocus on the race, the sources, who asked not to be identified, said Tuesday.
They have, as a result, largely set aside efforts to identify candidates for key Cabinet positions, but are continuing work to fill lower-level jobs, such as Securities and Exchange Commission general counsel, that would allow Trump to begin basic work on his agenda if he won on Nov. 8, without worrying about winning political battles first.
Members of the transition team are also avoiding providing Trump with updates on the transition work to allow him and the campaign to focus the core of its efforts on improving his chances of winning the election, the sources said.
Another source familiar with the campaign, who also asked not to be named, said a senior Trump official has been contacting Wall Street tycoons and other wealthy Republicans for recommendations on lower-level positions.
That source said the Trump team has opened up its hiring search far beyond his core group of supporters and is even willing to consider people who have criticized the brash New York businessman.
Clinton warns against complacency
As as opinion polls show her holding a clear lead over Republican rival Donald Trump with two weeks left until the Nov. 8 election, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned her supporters on Tuesday against complacency.
Clinton told voters in Florida, one of the battleground states where the election will likely be decided, that Democrats could not afford to relax.
"I hope you will come out and vote because it's going to be a close election. Pay no attention to the polls. Don't forget, don't get complacent, because we've got to turn people out," she told a rally in Coconut Creek, standing in front of a large sign reading: "Vote Early."
"Nobody should want to wake up on Nov. 9 and wonder whether there was more you could have done," Clinton said.
