Hillary Clinton took questions from the media Thursday — her first formal press conference in 278 days.
She took only a handful of questions during the 10-minute presser, and none of them focused on two of the biggest issues facing her candidacy: potential conflicts of interest related to the Clinton Foundation and the storage of her State Department emails on a private server during her tenure as secretary of state.
Instead, Clinton was asked about tight 2016 poll numbers, whether her strategy in Iraq and Syria includes ground troops, her demeanor during last night's NBC Commander-in-Chief Forum, intelligence officials' unhappiness with President Barack Obama's national security strategies, her strategy for upcoming debates with Republican nominee Donald Trump, Gary Johnson's inability to answer a question on Aleppo and her own Syria strategy.
Clinton mostly used the time to attack Trump for things he said in the Wednesday forum, as well as throughout the campaign.
In an answer about terrorism, Clinton said that the Islamic State supports Trump in 2016:
They have ... said they hope that Allah delivers America to Trump, they have said that they hope that he is the president because it would give more motivation to every Jihadi, someone who has insulted Muslims, has insulted a Gold Star family of incredibly heroic Capt. [Humayun] Kahn, someone who's said that he doesn't want to let Muslims from around the world even come to our country — that is a gift for ISIS.
Clinton added that she doesn't want to be treated more gently than her GOP rival, but she argued that Trump taking the White House would be detrimental to U.S. national security.
"Look, I'm not asking for any special treatment, I know the road that I'm on, Ive been on it for 25 years," she said. "I just get up every day and keep moving forward. I love this country, I will serve it with my entire heart, mind and soul."
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