Trump later wrote on his Twitter page that if “Russia or any other country or person” has Clinton’s “illegally deleted emails”, they should hand them over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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“Of course, I’m being sarcastic”, Trump said in the interview taped Wednesday that aired Thursday.
Trump was referring to the recent hack of the Democratic National Committee, which led to the publication of thousands of emails on WikiLeaks. “I just think so”, Trump said in one of his first comments about the Russian leader since launching his presidential bid last June.
He made the remark at a testy news conference at his Doral golf resort in Florida that allowed him to steal some of the limelight from the Philadelphia convention where Mrs Clinton accepted the Democratic presidential nomination for the Nov 8 election. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press”.
The Justice Department declined to prosecute Clinton over her email practices. “Who knows who it is”, Trump said.
But Trump refused to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay out of the American politics and instead reasserted his desire to draw Russia and the US closer together as president – building on a long-established track record of Trump’s fondness for the autocratic Russian leader.
“They probably have her 33,000 e-mails that she lost and deleted”, the GOP candidate said.
Trump said statements that Russian Federation was responsible for the hacking were “far-fetched, so ridiculous”.
“We’re going to be respectful of our allies, we’re going to be protective of our citizens, and we’re going to ensure that the rights of individuals and communities whatever their color, age, gender, sex, whatever the issue is”, she said.
Donald Trump said Snowden should be executed for treason.
At the same time, Putin moved quickly after Turkey accused the USA of involvement in the bloody putsch two weeks ago and the European Union expressed alarm over Erdogan’s draconian crackdown and support for bringing back the death penalty, according to Alexander Shumilin, who runs the Middle East Conflicts Center at the Institute for US and Canada Studies in Moscow. “If part of the United States political establishment, such as Trump, is ready to recognize the reality, we can only welcome this”.
Democrats have charged that the exploit was created to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign and favor Donald Trump’s.
While the Kremlin couldn’t be reached for comment by the news outlets searching for a follow-up on the DNC’s claims, they have since commented on Trump’s invitation to espionage.
It’s vital for Russian Federation to have an ally within North Atlantic Treaty Organisation that will hesitate to move against the country in the event of a conflict, a senior official in Moscow said.
Speculation is building that Russian hackers may have breached the Democratic National Committee as a way to influence the outcome of the US election.
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“I would hope that when the administration feels comfortable with the attribution, they would be blamed, they would be shamed, they would potentially be indicted”, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview.
