McCain says Trump 'dangerous' on national security

U.S. Sen. John McCain on Thursday said that Republican presidential front-runner Donal Trump has made "uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues."

McCain said he "shares the concerns" about Trump made by former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Romney, in a speech Thursday morning, said that the future safety of the United States would be "greatly diminished" if Trump were picked.

"His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power," Romney said.

Romney branded Trump as "a phony, a fraud" whose "promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University" in his speech, the Associated Press reported.

The Republican senator from Arizona, himself a former GOP presidential contender, said that he "would also echo the many concerns about Mr. Trump's uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues that have been raised by 65 Republican defense and foreign policy leaders."

A group of GOP national security experts released an open letter to Trump on Thursday, saying they would actively work against his being elected president. The group said that Trump "would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world."

"Furthermore, his expansive view of how presidential power should be wielded against his detractors poses a distinct threat to civil liberty in the United States," they wrote. "Therefore, as committed and loyal Republicans, we are unable to support a party ticket with Mr. Trump at its head. We commit ourselves to working energetically to prevent the election of someone so utterly unfitted to the office."

In an emailed statement to the press, McCain, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that, "At a time when our world has never been more complex or more in danger, as we watch the threatening actions of a neo-imperial Russia, an assertive China, an expansionist Iran, an insane North Korean ruler, and terrorist movements that are metastasizing across the Middle East and Africa, I want Republican voters to pay close attention to what our party's most respected and knowledgeable leaders and national security experts are saying about Mr. Trump, and to think long and hard about who they want to be our next commander-in-chief and leader of the free world."

But, McCain has said — and repeated it several times this week — that he would "support the nominee" of his party, even if it were to be Trump.

From the AP:

Earlier Thursday, Trump dismissed Romney as "a stiff" who "didn't know what he was doing" as the party's candidate in 2012 and blew a chance to beat President Barack Obama. "People are energized by what I'm saying" in the campaign and turning out in remarkable numbers to vote, Trump told NBC's "Today."

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Romney argues that Trump's "domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe," Romney says. "And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill."

Wednesday, even as many GOP leaders distanced themselves from Trump if not outright committing to work against his run for office, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said he would support whomever the Republican nominee happened to be.

The Democratic Party has begun to attack Republican candidates over perceived connections to Trump. Southern Arizona's U.S. Rep. Martha McSally has been one of the targets; the congresswoman has yet to comment on whether she would back Trump as a candidate for president.