Hillary Clinton: 'A Lot' Of Republicans Reaching Out To Me To Support Campaign
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hillary Clinton claims that Republicans are interested in supporting her campaign after Donald Trump became the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
"For a lot of people, again, who take their vote seriously and who really see this as a crossroads kind of election, I am asking people to come join this campaign," the Democratic presidential front-runner told CBS' "Face the Nation." "And I've had a lot of outreach on Republicans in the last days who say that they are interested in talking about that."
Over the past week, George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, the only former Republican presidents still living, said they would not back Trump's candidacy. Two former Trump rivals for the nomination, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, are among those who have also said they don't plan to back Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan said he's "just not ready" yet to endorse Trump.
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"The Republicans themselves are raising questions about their presumptive nominee, and I think that's in large measure because they do understand how hard the job of being president is," Clinton said. "When you have former presidents, when you have high-ranking Republican officials in Congress raising questions about their nominee – I don't think it's personal, so much as rooted in their respect for the office and their deep concern about what kind of leader he would be."
The former secretary of state has described Trump as a "loose cannon" on issues like nuclear weapons and the United States leaving NATO.
"Being a loose cannon means saying that other nations should go ahead and acquire nuclear weapons for themselves, when that is the last thing we need in the world today," Clinton told "Face the Nation." "Being a loose cannon is saying we should pull out of NATO, the strongest military alliance in the history of the world, and something that we really need to modernize, but not abandon."
Trump has continuously dubbed Clinton as "Crooked Hillary."
The billionaire once again raised former President Bill Clinton's marital infidelities, a preview of how the billionaire businessman is likely to respond to general-election attacks from Hillary Clinton and her allies about his treatment of women .
"She's married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics," Trump said of Clinton on Saturday as he addressed supporters at the Spokane Convention Center just days after becoming the presumptive Republican nominee.
Trump appeared to be responding to news that Priorities USA, the lead super PAC backing Clinton, has already reserved $91 million in television advertising that will start next month. Much of the negative advertising against Trump is expected to focus on belittling statements he's made about women in the past.
But Trump declared Saturday, "Two can play that game."
Clinton also talked about the controversy surrounding her private email server as secretary of state, telling "Face the Nation" that "no one has reached out to me yet" from the FBI to discuss the investigation.
She said she's "more than ready to talk to anybody, anytime," and told "Face the Nation" she hopes the matter "is close to being wrapped up."
The FBI and Justice Department have been investigating whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled.
The Associated Press reported last week the FBI had interviewed Huma Abedin, a close Clinton aide.
Also last week, a federal judge said he may order the Democratic presidential front-runner to testify under oath about whether she used the email server to evade public records disclosures.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
