Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s call for Russia to intervene in American elections by releasing Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails prompted retaliation from the Hillary Clinton campaign, who is now accusing Trump of conducting “espionage.”
During a press conference Wednesday at Trump National Doral in Miami, Trump called for Russian hackers to reveal Clinton’s 33,000 deleted emails. Clinton spokesman Jake Sullivan quickly labeled the call a threat to national security.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2016
“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. This has gone from being a curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security,” [sic] the campaign said in an official statement.
Clinton camp responds to Trump calling on Russia to release emails pic.twitter.com/fKsv03OO9z
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 27, 2016
Clinton previously called her emails “personal in nature” as she said in a May 2015 statement.
“At the end, I chose not to keep my private personal emails — emails about planning Chelsea’s wedding or my mother’s funeral arrangements, condolence notes to friends as well as yoga routines, family vacations, the other things you typically find in inboxes.”
Trump’s call for Russia to go after Clinton’s deleted emails prompted somewhat of a reversal from the Clinton campaign. The call itself could fall on tenuous national security grounds, as ample national security analysts have noted, but deleted emails supposedly containing yoga plans and dinner recipes rarely see such a vigorous, outspoken defense.
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