Trump and his running mate contradict themselves on NATO issue

Trump and his running mate contradict themselves on NATO issue

The Republican campaign sparked a controversy when party's presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence expressed contradicting views on America's North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.

In his vice-presidential acceptance speech, Pence said that Trump would rebuild the military and stand with the allies of the United States.

But in an interview to The New York Times, Trump said that the US under his presidency might not come to the defence of some NATO members if Russia were to attack them.

The Republican presidential nominee said that his decision would be based on the whether those countries have fulfilled their obligations to NATO.

The rival Clinton campaign slammed Trump and Pence for their differences on this crucial issue.

"Tonight, Mike Pence said Donald Trump would stand with our allies. Tonight, Donald Trump flatly contradicted him," said the Hillary for America Senior Policy Adviser Jake Sullivan.

"Ronald Reagan would be ashamed. Harry Truman would be ashamed. Republicans,Democrats and Independents who help build NATO into the most successful military alliance in history would all come to the same conclusion: Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally ill-prepared to be our Commander in Chief," he said. Read More

Clinton never personally denied Benghazi security: Democrats

Clinton never personally denied Benghazi security: Democrats

Hillary Clinton never personally denied any requests from diplomats for additional security at the US outpost in Benghazi, Libya, according to Democratson a select House panel who absolved the former secretary of state and the US military of wrongdoing in the deadly September 11, 2012 attacks.

In a report pre-empting the Republicans, the panel's five Democrats said after a two-year investigation that the military could not have done anything differently that night to save the lives of four Americans killed in Libya. US Ambassador Chris Stevens died in one of the two assaults at the diplomatic facility and CIA annex.

Democrats' release of their own report heightened the partisanship of the inquiry, which has been marked by finger-pointing on both sides.

Republicans accuse the Obama administration of stonewalling important documents and witnesses, while Democrats say the panel's primary goal is to undermine Clinton's presidential bid.

The Libya attacks became immediate political fodder, given their timing in the weeks before President Barack Obama's re-election, and that has not abated despite seven previous congressional investigations.

The panel's Republican majority missed a self-imposed deadline to issue a report "before summer," but the Democrats' move in issuing their report could spur the GOP's final product.

Whatever the timing, the Republican report is certain to have repercussions for Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The investigation led to the revelation that Clinton relied on a private email server to conduct government business, a practice now the subject of an FBI probe. Read More