Donald Trump slammed Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for her actions during her time as secretary of state, specifically her policy toward the Middle East and allegations that she lied to the families of soldiers killed in the Benghazi attacks.
In a speech punctuated by supporters’ applause at Trump SoHo in New York City, the real estate mogul outlined what he feels are failings in Clinton’s foreign policy record. Trump maintained that Clinton’s record has been “one deadly foreign policy disaster after another” and that she has “virtually done nothing right.”
“No secretary of state has been more wrong, more often and in more places than Hillary Clinton,” he said. “Her decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched.”
Trump slammed Clinton for her actions during the attack on Benghazi, a common talking point for him and his surrogates. He said she was sleeping when she received a call for help from the Chris Stevens, the ambassador to Libya who was killed in the attacks, a claim that has since been debunked.
“When the phone rang, as per the commercial, at 3:00 in the morning, Hillary Clinton was sleeping,” he said. “Ambassador Stevens and his staff in Libya made hundreds and hundreds of requests for security. They were desperate. They needed help. Hillary Clinton’s State Department refused them all. She started the war that put them in Libya, denied him the security he asked for then left him there to die.”
He also blasted Clinton’s support for allowing more Syrian refugees into the United States, characterizing that position as an attack on women and LGBT people.
“Hillary Clinton wants to bring in people who believed women should be enslaved and gays put to death,” he said. “Maybe her motivation lies among the more than 1,000 foreign donations Hillary failed to disclose while at the State Department. Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the United States.”
Trump painted himself as a better ally to Israel than Clinton and criticized her approach to the Middle East, arguing she is to blame for the rise of the Islamic State terror group.
“In just four years, Secretary Clinton managed to almost single-handedly destabilize the entire Middle East,” he said. “Her invasion of Libya handed the country over to ISIS. Thanks to Hillary Clinton, Iran is the dominant islamic power in the Middle East and on the road to nuclear weapons.”
Of course, Clinton’s private email server made several appearances in the speech, with Trump wrapping up his thoughts on foreign policy by saying that having the server disqualified her from being president.
“So (our enemies) probably now have a blackmail file over someone who wants to be the president of the United States,” he said. “This fact alone disqualifies her from the presidency. We can’t hand over our government to someone who’s deepest, darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies. Can’t do it.”
