Trump accused the Democrats of trying to deflect from the contents of leaked Democratic Party emails, which have deeply embarrassed the Clinton campaign and which her team said were hacked by Russian Federation.
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USA computer experts have said in recent days they believe that Russian state actors are behind the hacking into computers at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, following WikiLeaks’ release of almost 20,000 emails that showed party officials favored Clinton’s presidential nomination and tried to undermine the candidacy of her rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Democratic Party chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, resigned on Sunday after the leaked emails showed party leaders favoring Clinton over her rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, for the presidential nomination.
Trump had also said on July 27 that if elected, he would reconsider US sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and that he would consider recognizing Crimea as Russian territory.
Throughout the campaign Trump has made positive comments about Russian Federation and its president, Vladimir Putin.
In his press conference, Trump alternated between recognizing that Russia had the capability to do such a thing and arguing that it was unknown who had perpetrated the hack-it could have been Russia, China, or “some guy with a 200 IQ that can’t get up in the morning” he said.
Under fire for asking Russian Federation to find the missing emails of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump today said that he was “kidding” when he made the statement. “What I do know is that Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin”. “This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue”, Sullivan said in a statement. “That’s not hyperbole, those are just facts”.
The Republican presidential nominee was referring to a private email system Ms Clinton kept in her home in Chappaqua, New York, while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta agreed Trump crossed a line, saying on CNN that Trump went “beyond the pale”.
Clinton’s campaign on Monday blamed Russian Federation for the hack. Burr campaigned with Trump this week in North Carolina, along with Republican Gov.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, also put space between himself and his party’s presidential nominee’s remarks.
“What the motives were in terms of the leaks, all that, I can’t say directly”, Obama said.
The Clinton campaign shot back that Trump was posing a possible national security threat by encouraging a foreign power to conduct espionage in the United States.
In a statement released within an hour of Trump’s comments, his vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence said there would be “serious consequences” if the Federal Bureau of Investigation could prove Russian Federation was attempting to interfere with the election. “If he disagrees, he should denounce his comments and say clearly that national security and foreign policy are more important than this kind of hyper-partisan dialogue”.
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The 200-year-old Logan Act bars Americans from engaging in “correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government … with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States”.
