Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Russia to help America locate the emails that Hillary Clinton attempted to conceal by deleting them from her private server.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 33,000 emails that are missing,” Trump told reporters at a Florida press conference. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens.”
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2597700
“They probably have her 33,000 emails,” he said. “I hope they do because you’d see some beauties in there.”
Trump also added that he doesn’t care which foreign country might have the emails, and that he’d like to read them regardless. “I need to be honest with you, I’d love to see them,” he said.
WikiLeaks on Friday released roughly 20,000 emails hacked from the servers of the Democratic National Committee. Experts say at least two Russian actors successfully hacked the servers, leading to speculation that the country’s government handed the emails over to WikiLeaks.
Trump said he is not convinced Russia is responsible for the leak, but that it was a bad sign for the Obama administration if it was Russia. “With the technology and the genius we have in this country … we don’t even know who took the Democratic National Committee emails,” he said. “I heard this morning … they don’t think it’s Russia. It might be China. Another report said it might be a hacker. Some guy with a 200 IQ who can’t get up in the morning.”
“If it is Russia, it’s really bad for a different reason because it shows how little respect they have for our country where they would hack into a major party,” he added.
Trump also said it was a misnomer to believe he would be easy on Russia, and that President Obama already made that mistake by pushing the country to become closer with China.
“Look, when I was a young man studying history and studying all these things I’ve always found fascinating, one thing 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,” he said. “They’ve never been closer. They’re selling oil to China. we forced them into this position.”
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2597874
“I don’t think he respects Clinton,” Trump said when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I don’t think Putin has any respect whatsoever for Clinton. I think he does respect me, and I hope I get along great with him … I hope we get along great with Putin, because it would be great to have a good relationship with Russia.”
“He has a total lack of respect for President Obama,” Trump said. “Number one, he doesn’t like him, and number two, he doesn’t respect him. I think he’ll respect your president if I’m elected.”
Despite outrage from liberal commentators, Trump doubled down on the statement following the press conference in a message on Twitter.Gabby Morrongiello contributed to this report.
