Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he was “being sarcastic” when he called on Russian Federation to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails.
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“I’m being sarcastic”, Trump said in an interview to Fox News.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing”, Trump said at a news conference in Miami on Wednesday.
Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser for Trump, battled back, saying in a statement: “It is alarming that Leon Panetta would, through his silence, excuse Hillary Clinton’s enablement of foreign espionage with her illegal email scheme and her corrupt decision to then destroy those emails and dissemble her “private” server to hide her crimes from the public and authorities”.
163-a-13-(Retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John Hutson, with convention crowd, in speech at Democratic National Convention)-“that’s criminal intent”-Retired Rear Admiral John Hutson criticizes Republican Donald Trump for encouraging a foreign government – Russian Federation – to spy against his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton”.
APPHOTO PAEV142: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump points to supporters during a campaign rally, Wednesday, July 27, 2016, in Toledo, Ohio. “We practically don’t get along with too many”.
“In fact, I saw her (Hillary Clinton’s) campaign manager – I don’t know his title, Mook”.
At a news conference in Doral, Florida, after Trump’s initial remarks, he was asked whether he had any qualms about asking a foreign government to hack into computers in the United States. The appearance of him encouraging Russian Federation to meddle in the presidential campaign enraged Democrats and Republicans, even as he dismissed suggestions from Obama and other Democrats that Moscow already was intervening on his behalf.
Reeling off his greatest hits as president, from the auto industry bailout and health care overhaul to landmark deals on climate change and Iran’s nuclear program, Obama said the choice was between Trump vision of “a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world” and “the America I know”.
“I will tell you this”.
“I’d like to see Manafort’s tax returns, not just Trump’s”, Dean said. “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”, Sullivan said in the statement, provided to Refinery29. Bernie Sanders when they were publicly promising to remain neutral during the primary campaign.
Amid reported evidence that the hack leading up to a surprise email dump from Wikileaks on the eve of the convention came from inside Russia, Trump countered speculation that the hackers acted on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin by saying he hopes Putin does order a hack on the Democrats.
Those emails were leaked to the Wikileaks organisation and published last Friday.
“You take a look at what was said on those emails, it’s disgraceful”, he added.
The head of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, resigned over the disclosures, which disrupted this week’s convention.
FILE – In this September 28, 2015 file photo, President Barack Obama shakes hands with Russian President President Vladimir Putin before a bilateral meeting at United Nations headquarters.
“You have to be kidding”, Trump said in response to another question. In 2013, Trump tweeted: “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow – if so, will he become my new best friend?”
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“This is not a trivial matter when you have a president of the United States, whether he knows it or not, is being helped by Vladimir Putin”, he added. “Not just government systems, but private systems”.
