Matt Lauer pitches Trump a ridiculous softball: 'Will you be prepared on day one?'

After being criticized for asking Hillary Clinton about her emails during an NBC presidential candidate forum on Wednesday, NBC's Matt Lauer concluded his interview with Donald Trump with a rather rote question.

"You said in a speech today, 'History shows that when America is not prepared, is when danger is the greatest,'" Lauer said before asking, "Will you be prepared on day one if you're elected president of the United States to tackle these complex national security issues?"

"One hundred percent," Trump insisted, before arguing that Clinton "made a huge mistake" regarding foreign policy toward Libya.

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"We have great management talents, great management skills," Trump said.

"You are prepared," Lauer repeated before being cut off.

"Totally prepared," Trump said. "But remember this: I found this subject and these subjects of interest all of my life, Matt. This hasn't been over the last 14 months. I found these subjects of tremendous interest. That's why they were asking me about Iraq 14 years ago. They were asking me these questions."

Watch the exchange, as posted online, below.