In a conversation about Trump’s nebulous relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, the topic shifted to why the Republican Party’s platform was softened on the subject of arming Ukraine to push back against Russian aggression.
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He was referring to the emails that former Secretary of State Clinton captured on her own server, on which she also received and sent official government emails – including some designated as classified – that Clinton categorized as “personal” and thus were not turned over to the FBI for investigation.
Thank you so much, Chris.
Do you believe that Russian Federation is behind the hacking and release of the DNC e-mails?
‘I think so. Yeah, I think so. “And we know that he arranged for a lot of those e-mails to be released”, Clinton told Fox News. And we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin, whether it’s saying that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation wouldn’t come to the rescue of allies if they were invaded, talking about removing sanctions from Russian officials after they were imposed by the United States and Europe together, because of Russia’s aggressiveness in Crimea and Ukraine, his praise for Putin which is I think quite remarkable. But I have no relationship with him.
“Laying out the facts raises serious issues about Russian interference in our elections, in our democracy”.
Regardless of what one thinks of either Clinton or her bad judgment in this episode, inviting one of this country’s main adversaries – or any other country – to engage in cyber espionage against a fellow American is reprehensible. “I’d have to take a look at it, but I was not involved in that”, Trump said of the decision to alter the platform.
The Republican nominee’s comments on This Week with George Stephanopoulos is raising quite a few eyebrows over Trump’s take on Russian Federation and Ukraine, especially for those who already question his understanding of foreign policy. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press”.
“I’m going take a look at it”, he said.
“[Putin’s] not going into Ukraine, okay, just so you understand”.
WALLACE: You carved up Trump pretty good in your acceptance speech.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks Friday, July 29, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He could start by actually making things in America again. “You have Obama there”, Trump said.
But perhaps further fanning controversy, Trump added that as president he would at least consider acknowledging Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in 2014 in the face of widespread global condemnation. Furthermore, some have suggested it is significant that top Trump adviser Paul Manafort was a longtime aide to Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted pro-Putin president of Ukraine.
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Regarding public opinion polls that show a majority of Americans don’t trust her, Clinton acknowledged she has “work to do to make sure people know what I have done and what I will do”.
