The brief statement from Brendan Buck comes as Democrats insinuated that Russian Federation hacked DNC emails, and Republican Donald Trump’s call for Russian Federation to infiltrate Hillary Clinton’s email an unprecedented suggestion to a foreign power to conduct cyberspying on a presidential candidate.
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Republican and Democratic presidential nominees get national security briefings in part so they are ready to govern if elected. Clinton has said the emails she did not turn over were private.
Shortly before she was sworn in as secretary of state in 2009, Hillary Clinton set up an email server at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
Trump made the remark at a testy news conference at his Doral golf resort in Florida that allowed him to steal some of the limelight from the Philadelphia convention where Clinton on Thursday will accept the Democratic presidential nomination for the November 8 election.
The FBI investigated Clinton’s email scandal and concluded earlier this month that she had been “extremely careless” in her use of classified material, but did not recommend that she face criminal charges.
In the same news conference on Wednesday, Trump dismissed suggestions that Russian Federation had sought to influence the USA election by engineering the theft of embarrassing Democratic Party emails released by WikiLeaks last week.
The head of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, resigned over the disclosures. “Lets see if that happens”, Trump said in yet another controversial remarks, which he has been known for during his entire election cycle. Trump said he has no relationship to Putin.
A spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan says Russian President Vladimir Putin should stay out of the USA presidential election.
Obama traditionally avoids commenting on active FBI investigations, but he told NBC News on Tuesday that outside experts have blamed Russian Federation for the leak. Russia is listening when you suggest Crimea should be Russian territory, contrary to longstanding United States and European Union policy. Trump did not directly respond except to say, “That’s up to the president”.
“Russia has no respect for our country, if it is Russia”, Trump said.
How can you possibly know at this point that Ms. Clinton and her campaign were not responsible for rigging the Democratic Party primary process?
The Clinton campaign was not amused.
The bold request, condemned as “a national security issue” by Clinton’s campaign, angered Democratic delegates and prompted President Obama to also modify his speech.
“The idea that you would have any American calling for a foreign power to commit espionage in the United States for the purposes of somehow changing an election, we’re now in national security space”, he said.
Later, Pence said in a statement there should be “serious consequences” if Russian Federation is found to be interfering in the US electoral process.
Shortly after the news conference, Trump tweaked his position further on Twitter, suggesting that any hacked emails should be shared with law enforcement rather than him or the public: “If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the Federal Bureau of Investigation!”
Trump’s stunning comments also reopened questions about his tax returns as Democrats sought to uncover any Trump ties to the former communist country. “I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is”, was Trumps answer. “It’s going to be an extension of Obama”.
“That is not only absurd, that is out of line and it is not the character of the president I want”, said Virginia Democratic delegate Haya S. Ayala, a cybersecurity expert.
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He ended the media appearance by taking another swipe at Clinton, who would make history as America’s first woman president but who has been criticized for not holding a news conference since last December.
