The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee dodged questions Wednesday on whether he believes Donald Trump is prepared to be president.
“Do you have confidence in Donald Trump’s abilities as it relates to being commander in chief?” Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, was asked on MSNBC Wednesday afternoon.
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“I think there are a number of national security folks who have concerns about what both candidates have said and done,” Thornberry replied. He said “that’s part of the reason that tonight is important, and the next two months is important as we listen to what they would do as far as our position in the world and especially with regard to the United States military.”
Both Trump and Hillary Clinton will participate in the Commander in Chief Forum on NBC on Wednesday night, focusing on their ability to assume the role as commander in chief.
When asked about whether he has any specific issues with Trump, Thornberry said, “Sure. I’ve got concerns about what both candidates have said.”
When pressed again, he said there have been “a number of things both candidates have said that go against the consensus of opinion since World War II.”
“And so look, it’s no surprise that much of the country has concerns about these two candidates, and part of the reason they have concerns is there’s been lots of this back and forth name-calling, I hope tonight is an opportunity to be specific about the substantive issues related to national security,” Thornberry said. “And I think a lot of folks in the country are interested in what these candidates have to say about would you — what would you do about the disturbing increase and accidents among our military? Where they’re not getting the training, not having the maintenance of aircraft, for example, that they need to have.”
“Those are the kinds of substantive issues that need to be addressed, instead what a lot of us have heard is lots of back and forth calling each other names,” he said. “These issues are life and death. They’re more serious than that.”
