Hillary Clinton criticized Donald Trump on Thursday for making public remarks about an intelligence briefing he received, but Clinton did the same when she ran for president in 2008, NBC News reports.
Trump said at NBC’s "Commander in Chief" forum on Wednesday that he could tell from the "body language" of his briefers that they were dissatisfied with President Obama. Asked to comment about Trump’s remarks at her press conference, Clinton said it was "inappropriate, undisciplined," but NBC showed she engaged in similar conduct eight years ago:
But as a candidate for president in 2008, Clinton herself commented on a secret briefing, citing it twice in her criticism of the George W. Bush administration.
In a Feb. 25 speech, as a New York senator during the 2008 primaries, she said she had pushed the administration to provide information about their Iraq withdrawal plans.
"They didn’t want to talk to us about it, as is their usual response," she said then. "We finally were able to secure a briefing which although classified, I can tell you was cursory. It did not inspire confidence in our readiness to do this important task of withdrawing our troops and equipment."
Clinton also cited the briefing in a Jan. 13, 2008 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.
"Last spring, I asked for a briefing on what the planning was. Secretary of Defense and the Department of Defense basically said ‘We’re not going to tell you.’ And I said, ‘Well, yes you are.’ We had such a briefing. It was classified. I can’t talk about it, but the bottom line is it was cursory. I don’t think that the Bush White House wants there to be much planning."
Clinton’s remarks are also significant given that she was publicly reprimanded by the FBI for being "extremely careless" with classified material through the use of her private email server. NBC added that her campaign did not respond to a request for comment.