Trump invites Russia to reveal Hillary Clinton’s emails.
GOP front-runner suggests hackers could find Clinton’s emails
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump dared a foreign government to commit espionage on the U.S. to hurt his rival on Wednesday, smashing yet another taboo in American political discourse and behavior.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’ll be able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he said, referring to deleted emails from the private account Hillary Clinton used as secretary of state. “I think you’ll probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
Trump made the taunt during a lengthy and unusual news conference in Doral, Florida, in which he also suggested the Geneva Convention treaties protecting prisoners of war are outdated, told a reporter asking a question to “be quiet” and said the fact that the Democratic National Committee may have been hacked was because foreign leaders lack respect for the U.S. government.
He also called President Barack Obama “the most ignorant president in our history,” alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin had disparaged Obama with “the N-word” and inaccurately paraphrased Obama speaking in a stereotype of African-American dialect.
“His views of the world, as he says, ‘don’t jive,’” Trump said. Obama had recently used the word “jibe” in contrasting his views with Trump’s.
The comments urging Russia to hack Clinton immediately drew widespread attention because they lend the impression that Trump is actively encouraging another country to commit a crime against the U.S. to directly affect the presidential election. If the emails are hacked and Trump wins, it also could make him appear beholden to foreign interests.
The unprecedented comments in a campaign that has pushed multiple boundaries came after days of increased interest in Trump’s relationship with Russia, his statements that he might renege on U.S. commitments to defend NATO allies against Russian aggression and his frequently espoused admiration for Putin.
“This undoubtedly sends a message to Russia that Trump is, at best, a fan, and at worst, manipulable and a bit of a loose cannon,” said Olga Oliker, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Trump’s comments probably did not meet the standard for criminal incitement but showed poor judgment, said Susan Hennessey, a national security and governance fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“Someone who is asking to be elected to the presidency should be more respectful of this nation’s institutions,” said Hennessey, a former lawyer for the National Security Agency.
State Department spokesman John Kirby refused to comment, saying that the nation’s diplomats were staying out of politics.
Allies of Trump, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, asserted that the candidate was joking.
But Trump, given the chance to clarify while he was still in front of reporters, did not back down when asked whether it concerned him that another government may have Clinton’s emails.