Donald Trump urges Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails

[Dr Frook]

Really, is the the type of person u want in charge of nuclear weapons and the worlds most highly funded military?

Republican Donald Trump has appealed to Russia to uncover and release thousands of emails Hillary Clinton did not hand over to United States officials who investigated her use of a private email system when she was secretary of state.

Key points:
•Clinton camp says Trump encouraging foreign power to conduct espionage
•Trump calls on Russia to find 30,000 missing Clinton emails
•Mike Pence warns of consequences if Moscow behind hack

Mrs Clinton, a Democrat who faces Mr Trump in the November 8 White House election, responded with a campaign statement accusing him of posing a possible national security threat by urging Russia to commit espionage and influence the vote.

"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, told reporters.

Mrs Clinton has said the emails she did not turn over were private.

Mrs Clinton kept a private system for her emails at her New York home while she was at the State Department from 2009-2013.

She is due to accept the presidential nomination on Friday (AEST), the last day of the party's convention in Philadelphia.

Trump casting a shadow
Donald Trump's comments threaten to overshadow the penultimate day of the Democrats convention.

President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's vice-presidential pick Tim Kaine are due to speak to delegates later today.

Senator Kaine is widely unpopular among Bernie Sanders supporters but the man who has competed in eight races for political office seemed confident he and Mrs Clinton can win.

"I'll be honest, I specialise in nail-biters. I mean I've got no fingernails, folks," he said.

"Every race I have is as close as can be, but I've never lost one and we are not going to lose this one."

This year's presidential race is shaping up to be very close.

Polls out this week show Mrs Clinton's favourability rating has dropped and now for the first time, she is on par with Mr Trump.

Her emails were the subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe that found no basis for criminal charges despite what FBI director James Comey this month called evidence that Mrs Clinton was "extremely careless" in her handling of classified information.

In the same news conference, Mr Trump dismissed suggestions that Russia had sought to influence the US election by engineering the theft of embarrassing Democratic Party emails released by WikiLeaks last week.

Democratic Party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned on Monday after the leaked emails showed party leaders favouring Mrs Clinton over her rival, senator Bernie Sanders, for the presidential nomination.

Cyber security experts and US officials have said there was evidence that Russia engineered the release of the sensitive party emails in order to influence the presidential election.

"It is so far-fetched, it's so ridiculous," Mr Trump said of that theory.

He suggested that China or some other party could be involved.

'I have nothing to do with Putin'

Russia has brushed aside suggestions it was involved.

"I don't want to use four-letter words," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Mr Trump, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past, said he did not know the leader.

"I have nothing to do with Putin," Mr Trump said. "Never spoken to him. I know nothing about him other than he will respect me.

He said his closest interaction with Russia was selling a Florida home to a Russian for more than he paid for it.

Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives and a Trump supporter, said on Twitter that Mr Trump was joking when he suggested Russia hack Clinton.


But Mr Trump repeated the call on Twitter, saying if anyone had Clinton's emails, "perhaps they should share them with the FBI!"

The Clinton campaign was not amused.

"This is a national security issue now," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters in Philadelphia.

"The idea that you would have any American calling for a foreign power to commit espionage in the United States for the purposes of somehow changing an election, we're now in national security space," he said.

Mr Trump's running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, said the FBI would get to the bottom of the matter.

"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," Mr Pence said in a statement.

During the pugilistic news conference at his Doral golf resort, which lasted more than 45 minutes, Mr Trump also called current President Barack Obama, a Democrat, the most "ignorant" president ever.

[Dr Frook]

this is why both Russia and China like trump so much...

[Dr Frook]

I recommend everyone hacks trump and show the world wot an idiot and crook he is.

[Dr Frook]

adding to the above... trumps statement amounts to treason... that scares me.

[Excalibur]

idk man, Trump is our savior.

[Rainshard]

Clinton did Harambe

[Tycoon]

nothing to do with hillary clinton's emails bodes well for america, so

[Shadow00]

Russia doing the FBI's job in the FBI's stead
This is somehow bad

Hackers expose corruption
The hackers are somehow the ones to blame for that

What went wrong?

[Father Anderson]

Clinton did Harambe

me too

[Rainshard]

Clinton did Harambe

me too