Donald Trump said Thursday morning that he was being “sarcastic” about asking Russians to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails from her tenure as secretary of state. Hillary Clinton’s campaign claimed that Russian Federation was behind the hacking of Democratic National Committee computers as part of an effort to undermine her candidacy.
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“I’m not going to tell you what I’d do”.
The hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s emails makes me wonder if folks will ever learn not to put everything in writing.
The Trump campaign didn’t waste any time cleaning up Trump’s mess of bashing Hillary Clinton for her missing emails. “If it is Russian Federation and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences”.
Among them were former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden, who served under President George W. Bush, who said, according to Bloomberg, “If he is talking about the State Department e-mails on her server, he is inviting a foreign intelligence service to steal sensitive American government information”.
“Of course, I’m being sarcastic”, Trump said.
He also said that he didn’t know who had hacked into the Democratic National Committee’s emails. “I think you’ll be rewarded mightily by our press”.
Trump replied: “No I didn’t say that”.
I don’t think I can spend the next 15 weeks under my desk.
The Emails Trump was referring to, were determined by a group of lawyers to have been of a personal nature and deleted from those handed over to the FBI in an investigation of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s home Email server.
“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”.
Supporters reach out for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally, July 27, 2016, in Toledo, Ohio.
018-w-37-(Jerry Bodlander, AP correspondent, with Leon Panetta, former defense secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director)-Democrats are incredulous at Donald Trump’s seeming request that Russian Federation get involved in the US election. “Candidates are advised of the classified nature of the material”.
“As Trump promises to focus on fighting ISIS, he clearly is seeking Russian cooperation and is looking to help Russia out of its global isolation over the war in Ukraine and occupation of the Crimea”.
At a press conference this week in Doral, Florida, the Republican presidential nominee asks for Russian Federation to find and publish Clinton’s multiple missing emails, according to The New York Times. USA media said that intelligence experts believed that the Russian government was behind the hacking of the DNC emails. Obama also appeared to embrace the notion that President Vladimir Putin might have been responsible because of what he described as Trump’s affinity for Putin.
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Commanders in chief and other senior members of the national security establishment speak so carefully, they often resort to the cliches of diplomatic speak in the knowledge that what they say immediately rockets round the world. As Politico reports, whether or not Trump’s risky comments will actually meet the legal definition of treason is unlikely to be explored, but it’s worth noting that Republicans themselves are applying the word to their own presidential nominee, underscoring the deep concern that everyone should have regarding national security, and just how badly Donald Trump will damage it – and our standing in the world.
