PHILADELPHIA — Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta accused GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump of asking the Russians to “engage in hacking or intelligence against the United States to affect our election,” and he gave Hillary Clinton the credit for the mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
Panetta, in an address to the Democratic National Convention, said Trump, if elected president, would provide unstable leadership that would threaten international treaties and world peace. Yet as Panetta spoke, Bernie Sanders supporters chanted, “No more war! No more war!”
“We cannot afford an erratic finger on our nuclear weapons,” Panetta said.
Earlier today, Trump told reporters at a press conference in Miami that he hopes the Russians have obtained the more than 30,000 emails Hillary Clinton erased from a private server she used when serving as secretary of state.
“They probably have her 33,000 emails that she lost and deleted because you’d see some beauties there,” Trump said. “So let’s see.”
Panetta said Trump “took Russia’s side” and called his comments “inconceivable” and “irresponsible.”
Panetta’s address centered in national security and terrorism, a topic that Democrats have mostly avoided during the convention even though it is a leading concern among voters.
Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009-13, overlapping with Panetta, who was Defense Secretary from 2011-13.
Panetta’s speech, for the first time at the convention, put the spotlight on national security and the threat of terrorism from the Islamic State, al Qaeda, Boko Haram and al-Shabaab.
On Wednesday, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright dropped referring to terrorist groups in her address to the convention, even though it was included in her prepared remarks.
“America faces flash points and threats from around the globe,” he said.
Panetta depicted Trump as unprepared for the task of keeping America safe and too unpredictable to be commander in chief.
“Donald Trump asks our troops to commit war crimes, endorse torture, spurns allies from Europe and Asia, suggests more countries have nuclear weapons and praises dictators from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin,” Panetta said.
Clinton, on the other hand, has the experience and temperament for the job.
Panetta described the “tough decision” made by President Obama to go after bin Laden and said Clinton played a key role in convincing him.
“When the president went around the table to the country’s national security leadership, there were concerns, but Hillary was clear: We have to get bin Laden,” Panetta said. “And our special forces did just that. And they sent a clear message to the world that no one attacks America without getting away with it.
