Trump urges Russia to hack Clinton's email
The GOP nominee's comments faced bipartisan disagreement, with Paul Ryan's office calling on Vladimir Putin to 'stay out' of the presidential election.
By Tyler Pager
Donald Trump invited Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails on Wednesday, asking them to find “the 30,000 emails that are missing” from the personal server she used during her time as secretary of state.
“It would be interesting to see, I will tell you this, Russia, if you're listening I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” the Republican nominee said at a news conference in Florida. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
The discussion of Russia and Vladimir Putin comes amid Democratic accusations that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails. Trump said that's a "sideshow" to distract from the contents of the emails. Trump later suggested Russia or China could have been responsible for the hacks, but maintained that the culprit is unknown. The hack, he added, was a “total sign of disrespect.”
Trump added to his suggestions to Russia following the press conference via his Twitter account. "If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton's 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!," he tweeted.
The Clinton campaign called Trump's comments a threat to national security.
"This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent," Hillary for America policy adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "That's not hyperbole, those are just the facts. This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue."
Beyond the Clinton campaign, Trump's comments faced immediate bipartisan disapproval.
House Speaker Paul Ryan's office disagreed with Trump, with Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck saying "Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug. Putin should stay out of this election."
Former CIA director Leon Panetta condemned Trump's comments. "I find those kinds of statements to be totally outrageous because you’ve got now a presidential candidate who is in fact asking the Russians to engage in American politics. I just think that’s beyond the pale. There’s a lot of concerns I have with his qualities of leadership or lack thereof and I think that kind of statement only reflects the fact that he truly is not qualified to be president of the United States. "
In a statement released shortly after the press conference, Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, had what appears to be a differing response, noting the FBI was investigating the DNC hack and that if Russia was involved, "I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences."
Pence criticized Democrats for focusing on the source of the hack rather than its contents, saying the revelation that the DNC aided Clinton in her primary battle with Bernie Sanders should be disqualifying for the candidate.
Newt Gingrich, a Trump supporter who was on the short list to be Trump's running mate, said on Twitter that Trump's suggestion Russia was in jest and said the focus should be on Clinton's use of a private email server. "The media seems more upset by Trump's joke about Russian hacking than by the fact that Hillary's personal server was vulnerable to Russia," he tweeted.
(Jason Miller, Trump's communications adviser, referred inquiries about Gingrich's claim it was a joke to Trump's tweet. "Trump speaks for Trump," he wrote. He also said there was "no daylight" between what Trump and Pence said about Russian hacking.)
Trump and Clinton, as their party's nominees, will begin receiving classified intelligence briefings in the next few days. Trump Wednesday said Clinton should not be given that information because she could not be trusted to keep it private.
Trump also doubled down his commitment to improving relations with Russia.
He seemingly said he would consider recognizing Crimea — a piece of territory that was part of the Ukraine but is now claimed by Russia and under its influence — as Russian territory. He said he would consider lifting sanctions on Russia as well.
"We'll be looking at that. Yeah, we'll be looking," Trump said in response to a reporter's question about his policy on the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine.
“President Trump would be so much better for U.S.-Russian relations. You can't be worse,” he said. He later added, “One thing that I've always heard is you never want to do anything to unite Russia and China. Well, they're united now in a true sense. They've never been closer. They're selling oil to China. We forced them into this position.”
Trump later put down rumors that he has business ties to Russia, saying that he has sold condos to Russians in the United States, but said he has not worked with the Russian government.
“I have nothing to do with Russia,” he said. “I said that Putin has much better leadership qualities than Obama, but who doesn't know that?"
Trump's statements follow a morning in which President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden both hammered the GOP nominee on his foreign policy views and knowledge. In separate TV interviews Wednesday, both the president and vice president painted the picture of a presidential candidate dangerously in over his head on foreign policy, an ignoramus who shows little interest in developing an understanding of the world on the fly.
“Set aside the nuclear code. What I think is scary is a president who doesn't know their stuff and doesn't seem to have an interest in learning what they don't know,” Obama said in a pre-taped interview that aired Wednesday morning on NBC’s “Today.”
During his press conference, Trump downplayed his connection to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t know who Putin is. He said one nice thing about me. … I never met Putin.” (Trump's "one nice thing" comment is likely a reference to his assertion that Putin called him a "genius," a claim the Washington Post's fact checker said was false.)
He had previously said during a Republican presidential primary debate that there were “stablemates” and he got to know him “very well” when they were both interviewed for 60 Minutes. However, it was quickly pointed out that Putin and Trump were interviewed in different countries and Trump then sought to clarify his comments, tweeting “I only said I was on @60Minutes four weeks ago with Putin — never said I was in Green Room. Separate pieces—great ratings!”
He added, “I would treat Vladimir Putin firmly, but there is nothing I can think of that I would rather do than half Russia friendly as opposed to the way they are right now so that we can go knockout ISIS together with other people and other countries,” he said. “Wouldn't it be nice if we got along with people?”
Trump urges Russia to hack into Clinton's email
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