He later added: “If Russia or China or any other country has those emails, I mean, to be honest with you, I’d love to see them”.
Advertisement
At the Wednesday morning press conference, according to the Independent newspaper and in a statement he later amplified on his Twitter account, Trump called for Russian Federation to “find the 30,000 emails that are missing”, referring to emails that Hillary Clinton said she had deleted from her private email server because they were “personal”.
Shortly after Trump’s extraordinary remarks, his Republican running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, took a different tack and warned of “serious consequences” if Russian Federation interfered in the election.
Trump’s comments raised the question of whether he was condoning foreign government hacking of us computers and the public release of information stolen from political adversaries – actions that are at least publicly frowned upon across the globe. “Number two, he doesn’t respect him”, Trump said.
It was a curious position to take, that he’d actually been asking foreign hackers not to commit treason, but to turn over any ill-gotten classified documents that were already in their position.
“I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press”.
While many have come out and criticized Trump for the statement, at least one writer – Jake Novak with CNBC – says the comments by Trump were a calculated effort at misdirection, meant to take the focus off the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and put the spotlight back on the email controversy that’s dogged Clinton for the past several months.
He was asked whether as president he would recognize Crimea as Russian territory and whether he would contemplate lifting sanctions imposed to punish Moscow’s move into the enclave by the USA and its allies.
He rejected Trump’s apparently sarcastic suggestion for Russian Federation to dig up Clinton’s emails point-blank. This is consistent with Trump’s modus operandi; he’s known for side-stepping questions and changing the subject when he’s uncomfortable with a particular topic, which is quite often.
“It’s just a total deflection, this whole thing with Russia”, Trump said.
At a news conference Wednesday in Doral, Florida, Trump ignited his controversy with what appeared to be a challenge to Moscow.
“I was appalled. I mean we’ve heard a lot of things from Donald Trump over the a year ago and a half”, Brazile told USA TODAY’s Susan Page during an interview for Capital Download.
Clinton’s camp believes that Moscow gave the mails to WikiLeaks, which released them last week, to foment unease between the former first lady and her one-time Democratic rival Bernie Sanders.
“This is a national security issue now”, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters in Philadelphia.
“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”, Trump senior policy advisor Stephen Miller said.
Brazile said that from everything she has seen it seems like Russian Federation was involved in hacking the DNC in order to help Trump.
In his critique of the Democratic convention, Trump claimed Clinton would continue to push the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership with Pacific Rim nations, despite her recent opposition to the pact. I said he’s a better leader than Obama.
Trump has said that he has “zero investments” in Russian Federation and insisted that his company had not received any significant investments from the country.
Advertisement
US President Barack Obama has implored voters to help continue his legacy by carrying Hillary Clinton to victory at the polls in November.
