Let Russia find Clinton emails, says Trump
DONALD TRUMP sparked controversy last night as he appeared to call on Russia to hack into the emails of Hillary Clinton.
The Republican presidential candidate urged the Kremlin to find emails deleted from his Democrat rival’s account prior to the FBI investigation into her use of a private server while she was US secretary of state.
Mr Trump said: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Leon Panetta, the fomer CIA director, questioned the billionaire’s loyalty to America.
A spokesman for Mrs Clinton said that Mr Trump was encouraging Russian espionage against the US. His comments referred to an accusation the Kremlin hacked into and leaked Democratic Party emails to help Mr Trump. He later denied he had invited Russia to hack Mrs Clinton’s emails.
Mr Trump also yesterday claimed that Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, had used a racial slur to describe President Barack Obama. Mr Trump said: “I was shocked to hear him mention the ‘N’ word.”
By Nick Allen and
Ruth Sherlock in Philadelphia PRESIDENT Barack Obama has admitted for the first time that Donald Trump could succeed him and advised Hillary Clinton to “run scared” as she prepared to become the first female nominee of a major US political party.
Mr Obama had previously maintained that Mr Trump would never reach the White House but, as the billionaire led in polls, he said it was now “possible” the Republican may win.
The warning came as Mrs Clinton was due to make history at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia tonight. She planned to use her acceptance speech to put gender at the centre of her campaign.
But Mr Obama said: “It is the nature of democracy that until the votes are cast, and the American people have their say, we don’t know [who will win]. I have seen all kinds of crazy stuff happen and I think everybody that goes into campaigns not running scared can end up losing.”
Mr Obama, who was due to address the convention last night, went on to attack Mr Trump for lacking a “basic knowledge about the world”, including not understanding what a nuclear triad was, or the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims. The issue of gender had been largely absent from the Democratic primary campaign as Mrs Clinton struggled to connect with young female voters, many of whom sided with her Left-wing rival Bernie Sanders.
But her advisers said she would now seek to make contrasts between herself and Mr Trump, hammering home to voters sexist comments he had made. In a message to supporters before her speech, Mrs Clinton said: “If there are any little girls out there staying up late to watch, I may become the first woman president but one of you is next.”
Meryl Streep, the Oscar-winning actress, took to the stage and said: “What does it take to be the first female anything? It takes grit and it takes grace.”