Trump to Russia: Hope you find Clinton emails

DORAL, Fla. -- GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia would hack into Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's email server to find "missing" messages and release them to the public.






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"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said, staring directly into the cameras during a news conference. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

Trump's call came as Russia is being accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election and as questions arise about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's computer servers.

WikiLeaks published on its website last week more than 19,000 emails stolen from the DNC earlier this year. The emails showed DNC staff members supporting Clinton when they were publicly promising to remain neutral during the primary elections between Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

U.S. intelligence agencies have told the White House that they have "high confidence" the hacking was the work of the Russian government.

On Wednesday, Trump said the DNC hack was "probably not Russia."

"It could be China. It could be someone sitting in his bedroom. It's probably not Russia. Nobody knows if it's Russia," he said.

Later in his news conference, when asked if he was really urging a foreign nation to hack into the private email server of Clinton, or at least interfere in the nation's elections, he dismissed the question.

"That's up to the president," Trump said. "Let the president talk to them."

The Clinton campaign immediately accused Trump of encouraging Russian espionage against the United States and meddling in domestic politics.

"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," said Jake Sullivan, Clinton's chief foreign policy adviser. "This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue."

At one of his Florida golf courses, as the third day of the Democratic National Convention began in Philadelphia, Trump said that if Russia, or any foreign government, was, in fact, behind the hack, it simply showed just how little respect other nations have for the current administration.

"President Trump would be so much better for U.S.-Russian relations" than a President Clinton, Trump said. "I don't think he respects Clinton," Trump said in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a series of Twitter messages, Jason Miller, a Trump campaign spokesman, tried to clarify Trump's comments.

"To be clear, Mr. Trump did not call on, or invite, Russia or anyone else to hack Hillary Clinton's emails today," Miller wrote.

In a Twitter post of his own, Trump added: "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 was referring to the emails on the private server that Clinton used while she was U.S. secretary of state, and to the emails that she said she deleted -- because they were private -- before turning other messages over to the State Department. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Clinton over her email practices, but FBI Director James Comey called her "extremely careless" in handling classified information while secretary of state.

GOP reacts

Some Republicans defended Trump's comments as a worthy attack on Clinton.

Former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump was right to keep hammering Clinton on the subject of her private emails.

Hoekstra said he was untroubled by Trump's goading on a foreign power.

"Trump is bringing up a fairly valid point: Hillary Clinton, with her personal email at the State Department, has put the Russians in a very enviable position," Hoekstra said. "Most likely the Russians already have all that info on Hillary."

Trump's running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, said any hacking by Russia should not be tolerated, but he also faulted the Democrats.

"The FBI will get to the bottom of who is behind the hacking," he said. "If it is Russia 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 added, "That said, the Democrats singularly focusing on who might be behind it and not addressing the basic fact that they've been exposed as a party who not only rigs the government, but rigs elections while literally accepting cash for federal appointments, is outrageous."

A spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., responded to Trump's remarks by criticizing Russia's behavior.

"Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug," said Brendan Buck, Ryan's spokesman. "Putin should stay out of this election."

In Moscow on Wednesday, Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia would never interfere in another country's election.

During his news conference, Trump was asked about criticism that President Barack Obama voiced about him in an interview with NBC's Today on Wednesday morning.

"I think President Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history," Trump said. "His views of the world, as he says, don't jive, and the world is a mess."

Trump was referring to remarks the president made Friday during a news conference at the White House, in which he rejected Trump's dark portrait of the nation as a crumbling dystopia. The president actually said, "This vision of violence and chaos everywhere, doesn't really jibe with the experience of most people."

Social media quickly lit up with criticism over Trump's use of "jive" -- slang associated with black American jazz musicians in the 1940s and 1950s -- instead of "jibe," the word Obama used. Many viewed Trump's language as a coded racial "dog whistle" to some of his supporters.

Obama "will go down as one of the worst presidents in the history of our country," Trump added. "It is a mess. And I believe that Hillary Clinton will be even worse.""

Responding to a question on the Today show about Trump's electoral chances, Obama said "we don't know" whether the Republican can win the presidency, and he warned Democrats that "anybody who goes into campaigns not running scared can end up losing."

Information for this article was contributed by Ashley Parker, Alexander Burns, Amy Chozick and John Harwood of The New York Times; by Ed O'Keefe, John Wagner, Jose A. DelReal, Abby Phillip, Jenna Portnoy, Philip Rucker, Karen Tumulty and David Weigel of The Washington Post; and by Eric Tucker, Jack Gillum, Bradley Klapper, Ted Bridis, Chad Day, Jonathan Lemire and Nataliya Vasilyeva of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/28/2016

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