Paul Ryan splits with Donald Trump on Russian leader Vladimir Putin

Mr Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton were being quizzed separately on national security and military matters at a so-called Commander in Chief forum.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., quickly distanced himself from his party’s candidate on the matter, calling Putin “an aggressor that does not share our interests”.

“What he said about Vladimir Putin, when Vladimir Putin came up last night and Donald Trump talked about what a strong leader he thinks he is compared to Barack Obama…”

Ryan also seemed to give some cover to Trump when he was asked if the presidential candidate should present a detailed proposal to battle the terror group ISIS.

“I find it frustrating”, she said.

Former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, a Hillary Clinton supporter, also forcefully hit back at the notion that intelligence officials would have suggested any displeasure with White House decisions on national security matters.

The interruptions were enough to prompt the New Jersey governor, who also attended the briefing as a Trump adviser, to touch Flynn’s arm in an effort to calm the general down, one source said.

Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump’s comments on a classified briefing he received as “totally inappropriate and undisciplined” in remarks Thursday.

Clinton said Republicans holding or seeking office across the country should be pressed on whether they agree with Trump’s comments, including his views on Putin and US generals that surfaced during the forum. Both candidates believe they have the upper hand, with Clinton contrasting her experience with Trump’s unpredictability and the Republican arguing that Americans anxious about their safety will be left with more of the same if they elect Obama’s former secretary of state.

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 an earlier interview with Israeli TV, Clinton said jihadists are so eager for Trump to win the presidential election, they are offering this prayer to their God: “Oh please, Allah, make Trump president of America”.

Clinton has said her experience in government as secretary of state and a US senator makes her uniquely qualified for the White House, and that Trump’s series of controversial comments make him temperamentally unfit for the office. The candidates will face off for the first time on September 26 at Hofstra University. But she defended her support for US military intervention to help oust a dictator in Libya, despite the chaotic aftermath.

Clinton pointed to the U.S. military code of honor, saying “that, Donald Trump, … is what we’re going to stand up and defend in the face of your outrageous, disgraceful attacks on the men and women of our armed forces”.

“Wildly unlikely, let me tell you”, Priess said of Trump’s description of his briefings.

“I expect to work very hard over the next four and a half months, I continue to believe Guantanamo is a recruitment tool for terrorism.There is no doubt that because of the politics in Congress right now, it is a tough road to hoe”, Obama conceded Thursday. He replied, “Yeah, I guess so”.