Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s email use as Barack Obama’s secretary of state is “devastating for the election.”
In an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday, the business mogul turned politician added, “But I think her bigger problem is not the election. I think her bigger problem is going to be the criminal [problem].”
The GOP frontrunner added that he’s not surprised that he has come within 6 points of the former Secretary of State in the latest polls. “I think that Hillary’s going to have a hard time being in the election based on what’s going on with the emails, the servers, maybe even the speeches,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a very hard thing for her to overcome.”
He compared Clinton to Gen. David Petraeus, the former four-star Army general and CIA director who pleaded guilty in January to one misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information in his dealings with his biographer and lover.
“When I look, Chris, at what happened with Petraeus … great general, wonderful guy, everybody loved him, and it destroyed his life over much less,” Trump told Cuomo. “It would seem hard to think that somebody could have a much worse situation than him and escape.”
Trump also responded to pundits who criticized him for telling “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday that he often gets military strategy by watching current and retired generals on TV.
“I watch your show. And I watch other shows. And you have the best channels, the best everything … frankly probably better than I could get,” Trump said. “What do I know? I’m a man that made a great fortune. I’m gonna make our country rich and I’m gonna make our country great.”