The presidential candidates sparred over Russia’s role in the USA and the world Sunday, with Democrat Hillary Clinton saying Russian intelligence had hacked the Democratic National Committee and Republican Donald Trump suggesting Russia doesn’t have a presence in Ukraine.
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Hillary Clinton today said Americans would not tolerate any Russian interference in the United States elections and her Republican rival Donald Trump’s “absolute allegiance” to Russia raises “national security” concerns. “But I think laying out the facts raises serious issues about Russian interference in our elections, in our democracy”, she added.
“I think the most likely explanation is that someone in Russian intelligence, probably very high up, chose to help Donald Trump, ” said Benjamin Wittes, a security expert at the Brookings Institution, but he added that there’s no solid evidence for this. Trump said he has no relationship with Putin.
Trump said in a free-wheeling Wednesday press conference that he hoped the Russian government had accessed emails from Clinton’s server and that he would “like to have them released”.
Putin, in 2011 accused the US Department of State and Democratic US presidential nominee and then US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, of stirring up street protests against his rule.
“Obviously, interference in the USA election process is a very, very serious matter, and I think certainly this government would treat it with great seriousness”. “And you have to look at that, also”, Trump said. “I never met Putin, I don’t know who Putin is. I just think so”, Trump said in one of his first comments about the Russian leader since launching his presidential bid last June. “We never poke our noses into others’ affairs and we really don’t like it when people try to poke their nose into ours”, he said. “If our country got along with Russia, that would be a great thing.But if we can have a good relationship with Russia and if Russia would help us get rid of ISIS, frankly, as far as I’m concerned, you’re talking about tremendous amounts of money and lives and everything else, that would be a positive thing, not a negative thing”, Trump said.
“A globe-trotting American investment banker who’s built a career on deals with Russian Federation and its state-run gas company, Carter Page says his business has suffered directly from the USA economic sanctions imposed after Russia’s escalating involvement in the Ukraine”.
Clinton told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace that Trump’s calls – which the Republican nominee has said were sarcasm – are a national security problem.
ABC host George Stephanopoulos corrected Donald Trump after the Republican presidential nominee claimed that Russian Federation was “not going to go into Ukraine”. “Who knows who it is”. “You have Obama there”, Trump said. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials also said it is possible that Russian Federation or another foreign government might have hacked her unsecure email server and have copies of the deleted emails.
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Clinton pointed to Trump’s comments in recent days apparently encouraging the Russian government to hack her to obtain her deleted private emails, and she noted the remarks about Crimea and sanctions.
