WASHINGTON -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who served as President George W. Bush's top diplomat, called Donald Trump a "national disgrace" and an "international pariah" in personal email exchanges that were leaked online Tuesday.

Powell also laments Hillary Clinton's attempt to equate her use of private email at the State Department with his.

In the emails, reported by BuzzFeed News, Powell also accuses Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, of having embraced what Powell called a "racist" movement when he questioned the validity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate.

An aide to Powell confirmed the hack and said, "They are his emails."

In the emails, Powell said he stayed relatively quiet during the rise of Trump. "To go on and call him an idiot just emboldens him," Powell said.

"Yup, the whole birther movement was racist," Powell wrote in an email to a former aide, according to BuzzFeed. "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. As I have said before, 'What if he was?' Muslims are born as Americans everyday."

To a former aide he writes: "No need to debate it with you now, but Trump is a national disgrace and an international pariah."

Powell, a Republican, also suggests frustration with the state of the nation's politics.

"We all need to start voting for America and not our parties," Powell writes. "Trump is taking on water. He doesn't have a GOP philosophy or even a Conservative philosophy. We need a revolution and it will begin with the GOP crashing and burning up its current form."

In a separate leaked email exchange reported by NBC News, Powell also criticized aides to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, for their attempts to "drag me in" to the controversies surrounding her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

In that email, Powell lamented that he had repeatedly told Clinton's "minions" that they are "making a mistake trying to drag me in, yet they still try."

In her interview with the FBI into the use of the email server, Clinton told investigators that Powell had advised her to use a personal email account, according to notes of the interview disclosed to members of Congress by the bureau last month.

The Associated Press reported that in another leaked email, Powell, using Clinton's initials, wrote that "Everything HRC touches she kind of screws up with hubris."

An aide to Powell, 79, a retired general who also served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded Wednesday to an inquiry about the emails: "We are confirming that General Powell has been hacked and that they are his emails. We have no further comment at this time."

Powell did not respond to a phone message or email seeking comment. He earlier told BuzzFeed that he does not deny the emails' authenticity.

Powell's emails appeared online at a website called DCLeaks.com, according to BuzzFeed. The site has previously posted documents from hacking prominent Democrats and some Republicans, according to news reports. In July, The Intercept online news site reported on emails leaked to the site from Gen. Philip Breedlove, the former commander of NATO forces in Europe.

DCLeaks.com has been alleged to be an outlet for hackers tied to the Russian intelligence groups. The website, which says it intends to expose the misuse of political power, has previously released emails from other Washington political figures.

Information for this article was contributed by Michael D. Shear of The New York Times; and by Jeff Horwitz and Michael Biesecker of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/15/2016