Trump 'accused of treason' after urging Russia to hack Clinton's email

 

Kremlin has denied that it is behind the hacking of

Democratic Party emails

as Donald Trump sparked outcry by urging Russia to break into

Hillary Clinton’s server and search for 30,000 “missing”

documents.

On a day when the election campaign reached new extremes

of toxicity and strangeness, Mr Trump held a press conference

in Florida where he effectively asked a foreign nation to carry

out cyber-spying on his rival for the White House.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000

emails that are missing,” said Mr Trump, speaking at one of

his golf resorts. “I think you’ll be rewarded mightily by our

press.”  He posted on his twitter page Donald J. Trump

✔ @realDonaldTrump

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!           

Asked if he was concerned that he was apparently encouraging

Russia to spy on an American political party, he added: “It

gives me no pause. 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.”

Mr Trump also appeared to imply that Russian leader Vladimir

Putin used the N-word to describe President Barack Obama.

The controversy over the emails follows the publication last

week of around 20,000 emails belonging to the Democratic

National Committee (DNC) by Wikileaks. The emails revealed

a plot to try and smear Ms Clinton’s rival, Bernie Sanders,

something that forced the resignation of the DNC chairperson

US media said that intelligence experts believed that the

Russian government was behind the hacking of the DNC

emails.

Over the weekend, Ms Clinton’s spokesman suggested that Mr

Trump, who has previously spoken favourably of Mr Putin, was

somehow involved in their release, which came on the eve of

the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. That

claim was denied by Mr Trump.

Donald Trump says Putin called Obama the 'N-Word'

On Wednesday, Mr Trump refused to call on Russia to desist

from any such actions. “If it’s any foreign country it shows how

little respect they have for the United States,” said Mr Trump,

who added that he was “not an email person myself because I

believe it can be hacked”.

The comments by the Republican candidate were quickly

condemned by the Democrats. Ms Clinton’s senior policy

advisor, Jake Sullivan said in a statement: “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. That's not hyperbole, those are just the

facts.”

He added: “This has gone from being a matter of curiosity,

and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue.”

Many on social media accused Mr Trump of treason, while

CNN political analyst Christine Quinn said: “It’s honestly

almost treasonous.

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta told the network that Mr

Trump's comments raised questions about his loyalty to the

US. “You've got now a presidential candidate who is, in fact,

asking the Russians to engage in American politics. I just think

that that's beyond the pale. I think that kind of statement only

reflects the fact that he truly is not qualified to be presidMr Trump’s colleagues in the Republican party distanced

themselves from his comments. His vice presidential running

mate, Governor Mike Pence, said there would be serious

consequences if the FBI determined that Russia was behind

the recent hacking, or was trying to meddle in the US election.

“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,” said the Indiana

governor.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, also put space

between himself and his party’s presidential nominee

“Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug,” said his

spokesman Brenan Buck. “Putin should stay out of this

election.”

Russia has denied that it is behind the email hacking or that it

is trying to interfere with the US election. It said the

allegations were nothing more than ““horror stories”.

“Moscow is at pains to avoid any words that could be

interpreted as direct or indirect interference in the election

process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a

conference call, according to Reuters .

“We see that the Russian card is in the red corner on the

writing table of all Washington politicians during the election

campaign, and that very often they make it a trump card in

their game.”