Hillary Clinton’s campaign will position her Wednesday night as prepared to be the nation’s commander-in-chief, contrasting her with what it’s calling a “temperamentally unfit” Donald Trump.
The focus on national security comes as Republicans have criticized the Democrats for treading light on terrorism threats and national security in the four-day convention that opened Monday. Speakers on Wednesday will include former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and veterans who will contrast Clinton’s experience and qualifications with Trump’s “unsteady, unfit and dangerous approach,” Clinton campaign manager John Podesta said.
The convention will also focus on Clinton’s push for stricter gun control, featuring family members of those shot in the Orlando nightclub massacre, along with the daughter of the principal at Sandy Hook elementary school. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, an independent who once considered his own bid for the presidency, will also speak.
Jake Sullivan, Hillary Clinton's senior policy advisor, said former defense officials, including a former admiral who was once a Republican, will talk about “what it takes to be commander in chief, and why Hillary Clinton has what it takes.”
He pushed back on Republican criticism that the campaign has played down national security and the threat posed by the Islamic State: “It was an issue last night, it will be an issue tonight and it will be issue Thursday night when Secretary Clinton demonstrates conclusively why she, and not Donald Trump, is the one capable of defeating of ISIS.”