KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hillary Clinton blasted Donald Trump on Thursday for his condemnation of U.S. military generals and his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying her Republican opponent had "failed" at proving he can be commander in chief.

"Every Republican holding or seeking office in this country should be asked if they agree with Donald Trump about these statements," Clinton said in a morning news conference.

The discussion came after a Wednesday night national security forum with both candidates. Clinton was challenged repeatedly on her email use at the State Department and her vote as a senator for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She also fleshed out several national security priorities if she is elected, including trying to take out the leader of the Islamic State militants and vowing to defeat the extremist group without putting U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria.

Clinton indicated later in the day that she does not want the final weeks to be exclusively focused on Trump, unveiling plans for policy speeches aimed at promoting a positive message. That effort started in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday night with an address on faith at the National Baptist Convention, where she made an appeal to black voters and reflected on her Methodist faith.

"I've made my share of mistakes. I don't know anyone who hasn't," Clinton said. "It's grace that lifts us up and grace that leads us home."

Trump did not directly respond to Clinton's criticism Thursday. At a speech in Cleveland, he tagged his Democratic opponent with a new nickname -- "trigger-happy Hillary" and repeated an incorrect claim that he opposed the war in Iraq "from the beginning."

Trump gave an interview with Howard Stern in September 2002 in which he was asked whether he supported the invasion. He replied, "Yeah, I guess so."

On Thursday, Trump said he would have voted against the war if he had been serving in Congress at the time. He argued: "I opposed going in. And I opposed the reckless way Hillary Clinton took us out."

Trump did little to counter criticism that he lacks detailed policy proposals, particularly regarding the Islamic State group. He said at the forum that he has a private blueprint for defeating the extremist group and that he would demand a plan from military leaders within 30 days of taking office. But he was harshly critical of the military, saying America's generals have been "reduced to rubble" under President Barack Obama.

The Republican also renewed his praise for Putin and his disdain for Obama, saying that the Russian enjoyed an 82 percent approval rating and arguing that "it's a very different system and I don't happen to like the system, but certainly, in that system, he's been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader."

In a news conference Thursday morning before boarding her campaign plane in White Plains, N.Y., Clinton appeared incredulous as she remarked upon Trump's statements about Putin.

Clinton on Thursday said Trump's praise for Putin "is not just unpatriotic and insulting to the people of our country, as well as to our commander in chief, it is scary."

"It suggests he will let Putin do whatever Putin wants to do, and then make excuses for him," Clinton told reporters "What would Ronald Reagan say about a Republican nominee who attacks American generals and heaps praise on Russia's president?"

Trump, on Thursday, appeared in a television interview for Larry King, whose show Larry King Now airs RT America, the U.S. branch of a network originally called Russia Today.

Trump told the Russia-funded network that "it's probably unlikely" that Russia is trying to influence the U.S. election.

When King asked about reports that U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating whether Russia is trying to disrupt the election, Trump said that he's skeptical.

"I think it's probably unlikely. I think maybe the Democrats are putting that out," Trump said. He added, "I hope that if they are doing something, I hope that somebody's going to be able to find out, so they can end it, because that would not be appropriate at all."

Private cybersecurity analysts have blamed Russian intelligence agencies for electronic break-ins into Democratic Party computers, including a breach of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats' campaign arm.

A Trump spokesman, Hope Hicks, suggested that Trump was not aware that King's program was linked to the Russia-backed network.

"Mr. Trump recorded a short interview with Larry King for his podcast as a favor to Mr. King," Hicks said. "What Larry King does with the interview content is up to him. We have nothing to do with it."

GOP discomfort

Some Republicans seemed uncomfortable with Trump's friendliness toward Putin.

The government's most senior Republican stressed Thursday that he does not share Trump's complimentary view of Putin. Speaking to reporters, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called Putin "an aggressor that does not share our interests."

"Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his own country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he's a good guy," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., of Putin.

Graham, a former presidential candidate, has often sparred with Trump and is one of his most vocal critics. "This calculation by Trump unnerves me to my core."

Meanwhile, Trump's surrogates on the Hill scrambled to either dismiss Trump's admiring take as so much "noise in the wind" -- as Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., put it -- or, alternatively, to attempt to cast Trump's approach as strategic.

"You know, maybe he's playing to Putin's ego," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., emerging from a meeting of the GOP nominee's surrogates Thursday morning. "Russia is a threat, and I think Mr. Trump may be playing it very smart with how he addresses Mr. Putin."

Russia may be a top threat, but to Trump surrogates, it doesn't pose the same dangers to the United States as a terrorist group.

And some GOP lawmakers agree.

"Russia's not going to invade the United States -- we're not going to take over Russia," said Trump surrogate Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., noting that Putin was "a good partner" to help defeat "radical Islam."

Collins also pointed out that Russia could help on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

"It's what a CEO does, reaching out to those where we may have major disagreements," Collins said. "When it comes to ISIS, there are not major disagreements."

Security in spotlight

With just two months until Election Day, national security has emerged as a centerpiece issue in the White House race. Clinton is contrasting her experience with Trump's unpredictability, and Trump is arguing that Americans worried about their safety will be left with more of the same if they elect Obama's former secretary of state.

Clinton, who had faced a barrage of questions in her half of the forum about her use of a private email server as secretary of state, also used her New York news conference to try to drive a wedge between Trump and the leadership of his party.

"Every Republican holding or seeking office in this country should be asked if they agree with Donald Trump about these statements," she said.

Clinton referred to Trump's assertion that the United States made a mistake by not seizing oil fields in Iraq and Libya after invading the countries.

"The United States of America does not invade other countries to plunder and pillage," she said. "We don't send our brave men and women around the world to steal oil. And that's not even getting into the absurdity of what is involved."

Clinton also dismissed criticism after Wednesday's forum from the Republican National Committee that she looked too serious and had not smiled enough.

"Well, I'm going to let all of you ponder that last question," she said. "I think there will be a lot of Ph.D.s, theses, popular journalism, writing on that subject for years to come. ... I won't take anything seriously that comes from the RNC."

Trump took to Twitter on Thursday in response, writing: "Hillary just gave a disastrous news conference on the tarmac to make up for poor performance last night."

Trump's campaign separately issued a statement saying that at the forum "she was unable to answer for her terrible foreign policy judgment, mishandling of classified information and claims that the VA wait time scandal was overblown."

"These are the desperate attacks of a flailing campaign sinking in the polls, and characteristics of someone woefully unfit for the presidency of the United States," Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump, said in the statement.

Clinton's argument that Trump is ill-prepared to be commander in chief comes as several Republican national security experts announced their backing of the Democratic nominee instead of their own party's pick.

After the news conference in New York, Clinton flew to North Carolina for a rally to register black voters -- where she seized the chance to again assail Trump's comments denigrating Obama.

At the rally, Clinton said those endorsements have only grown since the forum, arguing that the event was a "test and he failed it."

Some of those Republicans will join Clinton today for what she dubbed a "working session" on the threat of terrorism. Those attending include Michael Chertoff, who served as Homeland Security secretary under President George W. Bush.

"We will discuss how to intensify our efforts to defeat ISIS and keep our country safe," Clinton said of the meeting. "We should make it a top priority to hunt down the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and bring him to justice, just as we did Osama bin Laden."

Doing so, Clinton said, "will send a resounding message that nobody directs or inspires attacks against the United States and gets away with it."

Information for this article was contributed by Catherine Lucey, Steve Peoples, Jill Colvin and Julie Pace of The Associated Press; by Amy Chozick and Jonathan Martin of The New York Times; by Anne Gearan, John Wagner, Karoun Demirjian and Mike DeBonis of The Washington Post; and by Jennifer Epstein, Margaret Talev and staff members of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 09/09/2016