Speaking from Doral: Donald Trump dares Russia to hack Clinton’s account to turn up missing emails.
DORAL — Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump blastedWeston congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for what he said was the outgoing DemocraticParty chairwoman’s role in securing the nomination for his rival Hillary Clinton.
“She totally rigged it,” said Trump, referring to revelations from a trove of leaked Democratic National Committee emails that appeared to show staffers favoring Clinton in the primary race. “Bernie Sanders never had a chance.”
“Wasserman Schultz could not breathe without getting approval from Hillary Clinton,” Trump said Wednesday at his golf resort in Doral.
At the same time, Trump also extended an unusual invitation to a foreign power to help locate missing emails from Clinton’s private email server.
Clinton’s campaign has said Russia hacked computers belonging to the Democratic National Committee and released those emails on the eve of the party’s convention to benefit Trump’s candidacy.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said. “I think you’ll be rewarded mightily by our press .”
Although the source of 19,000 hacked DNC emails released by WikiLeaks last week is uncertain, intelligence officials have told the White House that Russia is the chief suspect, the New York Times reported.
The Clinton campaign responded by accusing Trump of encouraging Russian espionage against theU.S.
“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 amatter of politics, to being a national security issue.”
Trump, speaking at a wideranging, 56-minute news conference at the golf resort he owns, was asked repeatedly about any business dealings with Russia and his relationship with its president, Vladimir Putin. Trump and Putin have expressed admiration for each other.
adviser. “This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue.”
Trump, speaking at a wide-ranging, 56-minute news conference at the golf resort he owns, was asked repeatedly about any business dealings with Russia and his relationship with its president, Vladimir Putin. Trump and Putin have expressed admiration for each other.
Trump said he has no business interests in Russia and has never met Putin.
“I have nothing to do with Russia,” he said.
Asked if he would tell Putin to refrain from meddling in the U.S. election, Trump said, “I’m not going to tell Putin what to do.”
Trump said that he did not know if Russia had hacked the emails. “It’s probably not Russia,” he said. “It might be a hacker, some guy with a 200 IQ who can’t get up in the morning.”
Yet, Trump said, “If Russia or China or any of those country gets those emails, I’ve got to be honest with
you, I’d love to see them.”
Touching on several familiar campaign themes, Trump also said he would support raising the minimum wage to $10, but the rise would have to be instituted by the states and not the federal government.
He decried the rise of terrorism in theworld, telling a story of a friend who had canceled aplanned vacation to France. “France is no longer France,” he said. “Theywon’t likeme for saying that.”
He reaffirmed that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was his first choice as his vice presidential running
mate and denied having second thoughts. “I’ve never had a second thought inmy life,” he said.
Trump also expressed support for renegotiating the U.S. role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, reiterated a pledge of “extreme vetting” of immigrants or visitors from certain regions of the world, and said “in threeweeks” he would unveil a plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.