This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-obama-putin.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Donald Trump Again Praises Putin’s Leadership, Saying It’s Better Than Obama’s Donald Trump Calls Comments About Russia and Clinton Emails ‘Sarcastic’
(about 7 hours later)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donald J. Trump called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia “a better leader” than President Obama, offering the praise in an interview with “Fox and Friends” on Thursday, just a day after saying he hoped Russian intelligence services had successfully hacked Hillary Clinton’s email. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Facing a torrent of criticism over his comments seeming to condone the hacking of Hillary Clinton’s emails by Russian intelligence services, Donald J. Trump and his allies on Thursday sought to tamp down his remarks, with Mr. Trump saying he was simply being “sarcastic.”
Asked about comments he had made Wednesday at a news conference in Florida, where he said, “Putin has much better leadership qualities than Obama,” Mr. Trump reiterated his views in slightly starker terms. In public interviews and private conversations on Thursday, Mr. Trump; his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana; and campaign staff members contended that Mr. Trump was being facetious when, during a news conference on Wednesday, he said he hoped Russia would be able to find Mrs. Clinton’s missing emails.
“I said he’s a better leader than Obama,” Mr. Trump said. “I said he’s a better leader than Obama, because Obama’s not a leader, so he’s certainly doing a better job than Obama is, and that’s all.” “Of course I’m being sarcastic,” Mr. Trump told “Fox and Friends” Thursday morning as his aides accused the news media of misconstruing his remarks.
Mr. Trump also tried to walk back, in part, comments he made Wednesday about Russia hacking Mrs. Clinton’s emails — an extraordinary moment in which the Republican nominee basically urged Russia, an adversary, to conduct cyberespionage against a former secretary of state. And in an interview Thursday with the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, Mr. Pence repeatedly said that Mr. Trump was merely joking.
“Of course, I’m being sarcastic,” Mr. Trump said in the interview taped Wednesday that aired Thursday morning. “But you have 33,000 emails deleted, and the real problem is what was said in those emails from the Democratic National Committee. You take a look at what was said in those emails, it’s disgraceful. It’s disgraceful.” “He went on, using a statement laced with sarcasm, to point out that there are 33,000 missing emails, according to the F.B.I., that Hillary Clinton deleted or did not make available in the course of that investigation,” Mr. Pence told Ms. Ingraham.
Mr. Trump seemed to be conflating the roughly 30,000 emails on Mrs. Clinton’s private server during her time as secretary of state, which her lawyers deleted as personal, and the roughly 20,000 emails Democratic National Committee emails that had been hacked. But the assertions that his remarks should not be taken at face value were at odds with statements put out by Mr. Trump and his aides right after his news conference on Wednesday. Those statements insisted that Mr. Trump was urging Russia to return any purloined property to the F.B.I.
Mr. Trump’s comments Wednesday about Russian hacking set off a firestorm of criticism, and his efforts to recalibrate his remarks began just hours after he looked into a bank of television cameras and declared, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Aides to both Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence were clearly caught off guard by Mr. Trump’s impromptu comments on Wednesday — when he said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing” — and were surprised by the swift and immediate reaction to them, especially in the news media.
Mr. Trump posted on Twitter on Wednesday that he was simply urging Russia — if it had indeed hacked Mrs. Clinton — to hand her emails over to the proper authorities. “If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the F.B.I!” Mr. Trump wrote. The extraordinary moment — in which the Republican nominee basically urged Russia, an adversary, to conduct cyberespionage against a former secretary of state — again left Mr. Trump isolated from even some fellow Republicans, struggling to explain away another comment that had dominated yet another news cycle, and not necessarily in a positive way.
But on Thursday, he twice he called his comments about Russia “sarcastic.” Ed Brookover, a Trump campaign liaison to the Republican National Committee, said that the substance of Mrs. Clinton’s emails was what was most important — not Mr. Trump’s remarks.
Some Republicans have stepped forward to defend Mr. Trump. “The truth about the emails is that Hillary’s record as secretary of state was abysmal, and her lack of security left our secrets vulnerable,” Mr. Brookover said. “Let’s hope that no foreign countries did get access to her private email account.”
On Thursday, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, defended Mr. Trump in a radio interview with the “Mike Gallagher Show,” saying, “The Russians have those emails, they’ve had them for some time.” On Thursday, even while trying to reframe his original comments, Mr. Trump reiterated his remarks from a day earlier that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is “a better leader” than President Obama.
“If they could get into that D.N.C. server, they owned her server in Poughkeepsie,” Mr. Giuliani told the conservative radio host. “And not only did they own it, but so did the Russians, possibly the Israelis, maybe a couple of other allies. And by the way, we do the same thing to them so don’t get all upset.” “I said he’s a better leader than Obama because Obama’s not a leader, so he’s certainly doing a better job than Obama is, and that’s all,” Mr. Trump said in the “Fox and Friends” interview.
In a radio interview with Laura Ingraham Thursday morning, Ms. Ingraham asked Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, Mr. Trump’s running mate, “Should Americans be concerned that the Republican nominee is inviting a foreign government to hack into government emails?” “But you have 33,000 emails deleted, and the real problem is what was said in those emails from the Democratic National Committee,” Mr. Trump said. “You take a look at what was said in those emails, it’s disgraceful. It’s disgraceful.”
Mr. Pence, echoing the campaign’s public posture, said several times that Mr. Trump was just being “sarcastic” and he sought to reframe Mr. Trump’s remarks. For the second day in a row, Mr. Trump seemed to be conflating the roughly 30,000 emails on Mrs. Clinton’s private server during her time as secretary of state that her lawyers deleted as personal, and the roughly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails that were hacked.
“Well it’s absolutely not what he said,” Mr. Pence said. “What he said — what I said — was, clearly if Russia or any foreign country was interfering or intervening or engaging in illegal activity in the United states, in our elections or otherwise, that there be serious consequences.” Mr. Trump’s efforts to recalibrate his original remarks Wednesday began just hours after his news conference.
Mr. Pence added: “He went on using in a statement laced with sarcasm to point out that there are 33,000 missing emails according to the F.B.I. that Hillary Clinton deleted or did not make available in the course of that investigation.” Mr. Trump posted on Twitter on Wednesday that he was simply urging Russia, if it had indeed hacked Mrs. Clinton, to hand her emails over to the proper authorities.
Mr. Trump’s provocative remarks, which came on the penultimate day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, largely dominated the news cycle during the day on Wednesday, as Mr. Trump and his running mate, Mr. Pence, hopscotched the nation campaigning. “If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the F.B.I!” Mr. Trump wrote.
Even before Mr. Trump showed up for his final rally of the day in Toledo, Ohio, the arena buzzed with talk of foreign espionage, absent emails and the Republican nominee’s appeal earlier in the day to Russian officials to find and publish the Clinton emails. Republicans were largely muted Thursday in their defense of Mr. Trump, save for Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who is a supporter.
“We’d be lucky if Russia helped us out,” said Kathye Zaper, a realtor from Maumee, Ohio, who was wearing a hat bearing the Trump campaign’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Ms. Zaper said, “The Clintons are a bunch of liars who need to be exposed any way possible. They should lock Hillary up and throw away the key.” “That server of hers was less secure than the D.N.C. server that was hacked,” Mr. Giuliani said at a news conference in Philadelphia, adding that he was “sure” Mr. Trump wanted the emails sent to the F.B.I. “Those emails are being held by people. They should be released before the election.”
Though Mr. Trump’s comments so defied political orthodoxy that even many of his political backers — including Mr. Pence — sought to condemn any interference by Russia in American elections and governing, people at the rally in Toledo applauded what they described as Mr. Trump’s forthrightness. In her radio interview Thursday morning, Ms. Ingraham asked Mr. Pence, “Should Americans be concerned that the Republican nominee is inviting a foreign government to hack into government emails?”
Pam Thieman, a 61-year-old retiree from Toledo, said she thought Mr. Trump had a “great idea” in encouraging the Russians to hack Mrs. Clinton’s email. “I’m more than happy to have Putin help,” she said. “We’ve got to expose everything that woman is hiding.” Mr. Pence echoed the campaign’s public posture, saying several times that Mr. Trump was just being “sarcastic” — and he sought to recast Mr. Trump’s remarks.
Follow along with our coverage of the Democratic National Convention. “Well, it’s absolutely not what he said,” Mr. Pence said. “What he said — what I said — was, clearly, if Russia or any foreign country was interfering or intervening or engaging in illegal activity in the United States, in our elections or otherwise, that there be serious consequences.”
At an afternoon rally Thursday in Davenport, Iowa, supporters of Mr. Trump offered almost uniform absolution for the comments, saying they believed he had been speaking facetiously.
“I don’t think he was being serious,” said Tom Taylor, 68, a retiree from Wilton, Iowa. “It’s just media spin. He’s not a professional politician like the rest of them, so sometimes people misinterpret what he says.”
Still, some supporters allowed that Mr. Trump might have been imprudent in his remarks.
“Maybe he shouldn’t have said that about Russia,” said Joan Watson, 63, from Walnut, Ill. “It just gives the Democrats more material for ads. I think he was just trying to get a reaction. But even if he was kidding, he knows Russia could probably do it.”
In a common refrain among the people waiting for the rally to begin, Dan Brethaner said of the comments, “That’s just Donald being Donald.”