Trump’s comments came at a wide-ranging news conference at his golf resort in Florida, where he downplayed his connections to Russian Federation. “It’s totally unprecedented that a presidential candidate would ask a foreign power to spy on Americans”.
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In 2013, Trump told Inside Edition, when he staged the Miss Universe contest in Russia, “It’s a great place – it’s a fantastic country, you know, [I have] many friends in Russia and I’m very excited to be here”.
“You know what the N-word is”.
‘It is so far-fetched, it’s so ridiculous, ‘ Trump said, suggesting that China or some other party could be involved.
Some Democrats and security experts have said that Trump’s proposal to set conditions on North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies could risk Russian expansion in Eastern Europe.
The Democratic Party chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, resigned on Sunday after the leaked emails showed party leaders favoring Mrs Clinton over her rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, for the presidential nomination. Last December, Trump cancelled a scheduled trip to Israel just a day after the country’s prime minister condemned his proposal to ban U.S.travel for all Muslims. Clinton was formally nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
He then references an interview Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook gave in which he asserted-and was challenged-that Russian Federation was behind the hack and did so to help Trump’s campaign.
“This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent”, said Jake Sullivan, a senior polcy adviser with the Clinton campaign.
“Thats not hyperbole, those are just the facts”. But “the risk to the United States of America (posed by Trump’s comments on Wednesday) pales in comparison to the risk that Secretary Clinton poses to America for her wanton disregard for America’s national security laws”.
Many on social media accused Mr Trump of treason, while CNN political analyst Christine Quinn said: “It’s honestly nearly treasonous”.
Hillary Clinton and vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine at a campaign rally in Florida.
Later, Pence said in a statement there should be “serious consequences” if Russian Federation is found to be interfering in the US electoral process. But he refused to tell Putin to stay out of the election.
Russian Federation has never interfered in the election campaigns of other countries, terming the reports as unfounded.
“(Pence) is basically saying if there is a foreign power behind the DNC hack, that’s serious and somebody needs to check this out, which is the appropriate response”, said Helmke, a civics professor and former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne.
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Not only did Trump not say that, but there’s actually a history of him calling for foreign hacking of computers used by the highest levels of the executive branch.
