Trump cannot be commander-in-chief: Former CIA chief Leon Panetta

Philadelphia: Former CIA chief and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday lambasted Donald Trump for encouraging Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails — a move seen as sanctioning cyber spying by a foreign power, saying such a man cannot be the commander-in-chief of the US. “As someone who was responsible for protecting our nation from cyberattacks, it is inconceivable to me that any presidential candidate would be this irresponsible. Donald Trump cannot become our commander-in-chief,” Panetta said in his address to the Democratic National Convention here. Arguing that this was no time to roll the dice and gamble with America’s national security, Panetta said in an unstable world, the country cannot afford unstable leadership. “We cannot afford who believes America should withdraw from the world, threatens our international treaties, and violate our moral principles. We cannot afford an erratic on our nuclear weapons,” Panetta said in his address. “He asked the Russians to engage in American politics. Think about that for a moment. Donald Trump is asking one of our adversaries to engage in hacking or intelligence efforts against the United States to affect our election,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_2919948” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of Donald Trump. Getty images[/caption] Referring to Trump’s comments that he gets his foreign policy from watching TV and running the Miss Universe Pageant, Panetta said the situation was deadly serious. “Donald Trump asks our troops to commit wars, endorse torture, spurns allies from Europe to Asia, suggests more countries to have nuclear weapons, and praise dictators from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin,” he said. Panetta said Hillary is determined to defeat those who threaten the United States – be it Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Boko Haram, or al-Shabab. “Terrorists who pervert the teachings of Islam to kill innocent people going about their daily lives, people travelling through airports in Brussels and Istanbul…These murderers must be stopped,” he said. He said Clinton is the only candidate who has laid a comprehensive plan to defeat and destroy ISIS and keep America safe. “She is smart. She is principled. She is tough and she is ready. Hillary is the single most experienced and prepared person who has ever run for president.” Former Maryland Governor Martin O’ Malley said Trump has been a bully his whole life. “But here’s what I learned on playgrounds in Catholic school: all bullies are cowards in disguise. But unlike that immigrant-bashing, carnival barker, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton actually knows the enduring symbol of America is not a barbed wire fence. It is the Statue of Liberty!” he said. “Donald Trump doesn’t believe in science. He says, ’the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese.’ If the Chinese were really capable of designing some kind of diabolical farce to hurt America, they wouldn’t invent global warming. They’d invent Donald Trump,” he said. Malley said: “Donald Trump doesn’t fight for you. Instead, he insults people who disagree with him. He makes his followers fearful of tomorrow. He feeds off of a deep-seated and dangerous anger.” Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid said with Hillary in the White House and a majority in the Senate, Democrats will keep fighting for immigration reform that keeps America true, clean energy that keeps it strong, a Supreme Court that keeps the country just, and background checks for gun buyers and an assault-weapons ban that keeps it safe. “When Trump decided to run for President, he probably said to himself: I’m an egomaniac. I don’t believe in science. I think women are inferior. Where would I feel at home?” Reid said. In a statement, Stephen Miller, senior policy advisor to Trump Campaign, alleged that Panetta ignored Clinton’s rush towards war in the Middle East and her deadly and calamitous invasion of Libya, which further proves her a reckless risk too grave for any American family. “It is alarming that Leon Panetta would, through his silence, excuse Hillary Clinton’s enablement of foreign espionage with her illegal email scheme and her corrupt decision to then destroy those emails and dissemble her ‘private’ server to hide her crimes from the public and authorities. He better than most should know how many lives she put at risk,” Miller said.