Colin Powell Is Not a Fan of Either Presidential Candidate, Hacked Emails Show

— -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's private email has been hacked and the messages made public reveal that he is not really a fan of either major party's presidential candidate.

ABC News has not independently accessed these emails, which have been provided to a number of news outlets by a website called DCLeaks.com, which some experts believe is linked to Russian-backed cyber-espionage.

Nevertheless, a spokesman for Powell told ABC News that the emails are "accurate," and has not challenged the veracity of any of the messages that have surfaced since last night.

In the emails made public, the retired four-star general, speaking candidly to friends, has harsh words for both candidates, particularly his fellow Republican, Donald Trump.

Powell on Trump

According to emails obtained by Buzzfeed, the first news outlet to publish content from the emails, Powell emailed Emily Miller, a journalist and his former aide, on June 17, 2016, describing Trump as “a national disgrace” and an “international pariah.” In that same email, Powell also said Trump “is in the process of destroying himself, no need for Dems to attack him. [Speaker of the House] Paul Ryan is calibrating his position again.”

Again writing to Miller on Aug. 21, Powell blasted Trump for embarking on a “racist” movement that believes President Obama was not born in the U.S. “Yup, the whole birther movement was racist,” Powell wrote. “That’s what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn’t keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim," Powell added. “As I have said before, ‘What if he was?’ Muslims are born as Americans everyday."

About Trump's penchant for media attention, Powell wrote: “To go on and call him an idiot just emboldens him.”

And after Trump released the personal cell phone number of Sen. Lindsey Graham, Powell wrote on July 21, 2015, that “Trump has no sense of shame.”

Powell on Clinton

Powell doesn't pull any punches for Clinton either. The Intercept, an online news publication, produced four different email chains in which Powell slams Clinton on everything from her use of a private email server, to her husband and her age.

In an email to his wealthy business partner Jeffrey Leeds, Powell says Clinton has been dishonest about her email troubles. "Sad thing it {sic] that HRC could have killed this two years ago by merely telling everyone honestly what she had done and not tie me into it," Powell wrote to Leeds after stories surfaced that he advised her to use private email. "She keeps tripping into these 'character' minefields," Powell said.

That same month, he also wrote to Leeds, referring to Clinton here by her initials HRC: “Everything HRC touches she kind of screws up with hubris.”

And in one message, Powell remarks that she would turn 70 years old during her first year in office, Leeds writes back to say he saw her having trouble climbing stairs before a speech. "She could barely climb the podium steps," Powell said.

In May, following Clinton's first news conference explaining her use of a private email server, Powell wrote about her physical appearance. "On HD tv she doesn't look good. She is working herself to death," he said.

On one occasion, however, he appears to come to her defense, calling Benghazi investigation a "stupid witch-hunt," adding that the "courageous ambassador" Chris Stevens was also partly to blame for his own death.

Powell on President Clinton

In one message obtained by BuzzFeed, Powell hints at the fact that he will likely endorse Clinton in the fall, but yet another takes a much more unfavorable position -- and specifically targets her husband Bill Clinton.

"I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect," Powell writes in July 2014 email published by CBS News.

"A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still d------ bimbos at home (according to the NYP)," Powell wrote, apparently referring to the New York Post.