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Newly leaked emails show former U.S. Secretary of State Powell unloads on Trump, Clinton

Xinhua, September 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

A newly leaked trove of emails by Colin Powell on Wednesday offered a rare glimpse into how the former U.S. secretary of state actually view U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton.

In the emails, first posted by DCLeaks.com, Powell called Trump a "national disgrace" and an "international pariah" in June during his online communication with a former aide, and in another exchange with Condoleezza Rice, his successor at the U.S. State Department, both of them joked about Trump's understanding of what a presidency would carry.

"If Donald were to somehow win," wrote Powell in a June 23 email to Rice, "by the end of the first week in office he'd be saying 'What the hell did I get myself into?'"

Powell and Rice, both Republicans, had so far not endorsed Trump in this election cycle.

According to NBC News, Powell on Wednesday confirmed to the TV network that the emails were authentic, adding that "the hackers have a lot more."

Meanwhile, Powell also unloaded on Clinton, expressing his frustration within his inner circle about himself being tied to the controversy surrounding Clinton's email practice during her stint at the State Department.

"I warned her (Clinton) staff three times over the past two years not to try to connect it to me. I am not sure HRC even knew or understood what was going on in the basement," Powell wrote to a business partner.

In another exchange, Powell also criticized Clinton's steps to handle her defense, saying that she should have merely told everyone "honestly what she had done and not tie me to it."

The New York Times reported in August that Clinton told federal investigators that Powell told her to use personal email at a dinner gathering during her three-and-half hour interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents last month.

According to NBC News, Powell's office later responded to Clinton's claim by remarking that "General Powell has no recollection of the dinner conversation."

However, Powell did write Clinton an email memo "describing his use of his personal AOL email account for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications within the State Department," according to an early statement by Powell's office. Enditem