Donald Trump says he was being ‘sarcastic’ about Russian Federation hacking Clinton’s emails

A day later, Trump said, “Of course I’m being sarcastic”, in a Fox News interview.

Russian Federation is indignant about allegations that it was involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing thousands of embarrassing emails through WikiLeaks.

Konstantin von Eggert, a commentator and host for the opposition-leaning news channel TV Rain, says Russia’s leadership has reasons for seeing a Trump presidency as a win-win situation.

The emails showed DNC officials, who are supposed to remain neutral, had favoured Mrs Clinton and derided her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders.

At a news conference Wednesday in Doral, Florida, Trump ignited his controversy with what appeared to be a challenge to Moscow.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing”, Trump said, referring to emails Clinton had deleted from a private email server.

Trump said he is looking at recognizing Crimea as Russian territory. However, on Wednesday, Trump said he would act “firmly” toward Putin. During this appearance, he discussed US-Russian relations and claimed that he had talked to Putin during a recent visit to Moscow, where Trump held his Miss Universe pageant.

Trump claims he was being sarcastic, and his media boosters are saying the same, but if it was meant to be sarcasm, it’s unclear why both Mike Pence and Paul Ryan had to do damage control after.

In the pundit’s eyes, Democrats are stuck between a rock and a hard place in their criticisms of the Donald Trump Russia remarks.

Supporters reach out for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally, July 27, 2016, in Toledo, Ohio.

Trump said statements that Russian Federation was responsible for the hacking were “far-fetched, so ridiculous”.

“I hear that from my counterparts, my intelligence and security colleagues in many other countries who take very, very seriously and study very, very closely what the political figures in this country say”, Clapper said.

Kurtz wrote that “as a longtime Trump-watcher”, he could tell right away that the real estate mogul wasn’t being serious.

Putin’s spokesman in Moscow did not directly deny Russian involvement in the hack but said Putin has pledged not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, especially elections. It wasn’t a highly unethical, possibly treasonous call for a foreign nation to hack a candidate running for President of the United States, it was just a concerned citizen trying to make sure the Federal Bureau of Investigation has as much help as it can get.

“I have no relationship with him (Putin)”, Trump said, adding that he had praised him the in the past because he had said some nice things about him. “That’s not hyperbole, those are just facts”. He also argued that it was Clinton who was endangering national security with her policies in the Middle East and North Africa.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch ultimately decided not to pursue criminal charges against Ms Clinton. “One of your best-rated shows in a long time”, Trump joked.

“Nominees for president and vice president receive these classified briefings by virtue of their status as candidates, and do not require separate security clearances before the briefings”, the official said.