Thursday, July 28, 2016
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump says he was using sarcasm when he prodded Russia to unearth Hillary Clinton's missing emails. But Democrats aren't likely to let the Republican presidential nominee's extraordinary comments simply fade away.
"Of course I'm being sarcastic," Trump said today on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," a day after his remarks at a news conference ignited fierce debate over hacking and his urging of a global adversary to meddle in American politics.
Trump's invitation to Russia to find and reveal emails by his rival for the White House came on the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
It also all but overshadowed an embarrassing leak of different hacked emails, these from the Democratic National Committee, showing that party staffers supported Clinton over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders when they were publicly promising to remain neutral during the primary campaign.
Trump's insistence that his invitation to Russia wasn't serious was backed up by his campaign chairman. "He was making a sarcastic point," Paul Manafort said Wednesday on Fox News' "The Kelly File."
Democrats and some Republicans quickly condemned Trump's remarks.
The Clinton campaign called Trump's statement the "first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against a political opponent."
Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, warned of "serious consequences" if Russia interfered in the election. And Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said bluntly: "Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug. Putin should stay out of this election."