Colin Powell Thinks Donald Trump Is A 'National Disgrace,' Leaked Emails Reveal

Powell also said the birther movement was "racist."

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell called Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a “national disgrace and an international pariah” in a June email that was leaked on Tuesday.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

The hacker group D.C. Leaks disclosed some of Powell’s emails and BuzzFeed first reported the details.

A spokesman for Powell confirmed his email had been hacked, but he had “no idea who did it and no further comment at this time,” according to CBS News. The Wall Street Journal reported in August some computer experts and Democrats in Congress believe the site may have Russian ties.

The leak shows that Powell criticized Trump’s lack of outreach to black voters, saying “there is nothing he can say” to convince black Americans to give him their votes, and criticizing the birther movement.

“He takes us for idiots,” Powell wrote, according to CBS. “He can never overcome what he tried to do to Obama with his search for the birth certificate ... the whole birther movement was racist.”

Powell ― who had no plans to endorse either candidate as of July ― criticized the GOP race in March, saying it had “gone into the mud.”

“Let’s not make this a reality show,” Powell said. “You know you’re in trouble when Jerry Springer even thinks it’s over the top.”

The latest email leak reveals Powell also criticized Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her handling of her email scandal, saying she “could have killed this two years ago by merely telling everyone honestly what she had done and not tie me to it,” according to The Intercept.

Documents released this month as part of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s emails showed Powell had told Clinton to “be very careful” if she used a Blackberry for email, warning that if her use of a BlackBerry became public knowledge, those emails could become “official record[s] and subject to the law.”

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

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