Stealing the spotlight from the Democratic Convention, it’s fitting their theme tonight- that Trump is unsafe.
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In making the latter statement, the New York Times reports, Trump was “essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power’s cyberspying on a secretary of state’s correspondence”.
You could probably dismiss this as Democratic paranoia, except several other things have come together and are unfolding since the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the leaking through WikiLeaks of the 20,000 pages of some very nasty emails just before the start of the Democratic convention.
Leon Panetta, a former defence secretary and former Central Intelligence Agency director, told CNN on Wednesday Trump’s remarks about Russian Federation and the Clinton e-mails were “beyond the pale”.
“I will tell you this, Russia, if you’re listening”, Trump said.
MSNBC host Chuck Todd posited on Wednesday that Donald Trump’s call for Russian Federation to launch a cyberattack on Hillary Clinton was acceptable because the United States government was engaged in espionage against foreign governments.
But, in a statement, his office did address the leak of the Democratic National Committee emails, saying it would be premature to blame any particular country or individual for the DNC email hack.
This scandal further tarnished Clinton’s already negative image while pushing away many of Sanders supporters, who the Clinton campaign hopes will shift their support to Clinton after Sanders’ exit.
Speakers went after fresh controversy over Donald Trump’s challenge to Russian Federation to find Hillary Clinton’s emails. The Trump campaign has denied such accusations. “And it didn’t happen”, Trump said, apparently referring to Bill Clinton’s extramarital relationships with women, including Monica Lewinsky.
Russia’s history of involvement in elections outside of their immediate sphere of influence, however, is extremely limited, and the idea that they are “behind” the Trump candidacy is preposterous.
“It gives me no pause”, he said, “.
Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis who was shot at gas station in Jacksonville, Florida in 2012 for playing loud music, praised Hillary Clinton for sitting down with mothers who have lost children to gun violence.
Mr Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation would get to the bottom of the matter. For the Russian, what’s not to like about the prospect of a U.S. president who has scant interest in human rights; who seems determined to retreat into Fortress America as soon as Isis has been obliterated; and who has as his right-hand man Paul Manafort, an unsavoury Washington fixture whose clients have included Putin’s deposed Ukrainian gauleiter and sundry dictators?
Meanwhile, a senior policy adviser from Clinton’s campaign released a statement calling Trump’s actions no longer just “a matter of curiosity” or “politics”, but an all-out “national security issue”. “I’d love to have that power.” . It’s no surprise he’s using very real national security threats to advance himself and attack Clinton, just as it’s no surprise he’s aligning himself with Russian Federation.
“If it is Russian Federation and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences”, he said. The FBI is investigating, and Russian Federation is said to be a leading suspect, though it denies any involvement.
Obagi says backtracking doesn’t help Trump.
“He mentioned the N word one time“.
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At his Miami news conference, Trump said he doesn’t do business with Russian Federation or with leader Vladimir Putin, despite the latter’s praise for the Republican candidate. “What I do know is that Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin”.
