WASHINGTON: Donald Trump announced plans to address economic issues and backed off a claim that he had seen a video of cash being delivered to Iran on Friday, in signs he wants to steer away from controversial comments and get his White House campaign back on message.
Trump said he had created an economic advisory team and would release his plan to boost the US economy in a speech on Monday.
Trump also said he had not seen a video carrying cash to Iran, as he had repeatedly said earlier this week, but rather had seen a clip showing a plane carrying some of five Americans who were freed from Iran in January.
“The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran!” Trump tweeted early Friday morning.
Critics of the Obama administration have said a $400 million payment in cash to Iran amounted to a ransom in exchange for the freeing of American prisoners in January, but President Barack Obama has defended the payment as a release of frozen funds that followed an international nuclear agreement with Iran.
Separately, a former top CIA official emphatically endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Friday, calling Donald Trump an “unwitting agent” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump’s vulnerabilities by complimenting him,” wrote former CIA deputy director Michael Morell in a New York Times op-ed. “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”
A self-identified nonpartisan who has worked under both Republican and Democratic governments, Morell called Clinton “highly qualified” to lead the US, having worked with the Democratic nominee when she served as secretary of state.
“Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief,” Morell wrote. “I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president — keeping our nation safe.”
“Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.”
The ex-intelligence chief also said Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US “clearly contradicts the foundational values of our nation” and “plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism is a war between religions.”
Trump said he had created an economic advisory team and would release his plan to boost the US economy in a speech on Monday.
Trump also said he had not seen a video carrying cash to Iran, as he had repeatedly said earlier this week, but rather had seen a clip showing a plane carrying some of five Americans who were freed from Iran in January.
“The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran!” Trump tweeted early Friday morning.
Critics of the Obama administration have said a $400 million payment in cash to Iran amounted to a ransom in exchange for the freeing of American prisoners in January, but President Barack Obama has defended the payment as a release of frozen funds that followed an international nuclear agreement with Iran.
Separately, a former top CIA official emphatically endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Friday, calling Donald Trump an “unwitting agent” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump’s vulnerabilities by complimenting him,” wrote former CIA deputy director Michael Morell in a New York Times op-ed. “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”
A self-identified nonpartisan who has worked under both Republican and Democratic governments, Morell called Clinton “highly qualified” to lead the US, having worked with the Democratic nominee when she served as secretary of state.
“Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief,” Morell wrote. “I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president — keeping our nation safe.”
“Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.”
The ex-intelligence chief also said Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US “clearly contradicts the foundational values of our nation” and “plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism is a war between religions.”
