Trump asks Russia to hack and leak Clinton email

Donald Trump told two big lies today during a news conference at the Trump-owned Doral Country Club in Florida but neither will make the news or be the top story.

The Trump family business will profit handsomely for holding the conference at Doral but that’s old and often repeated news now.

During the conference Trump intemperately told female reporter Katy Tur to “be quiet.” Trump’s misogynistic attack on the First Amendment… barely a mention afterward.

And Trump dissed the President Obama and Secretary Clinton… again, so no real news there.

And not the fact that egomaniacal Trump held the presser at the midpoint of the Democratic National Convention to siphon attention away from the rousingly successful, historic convention.

Trump flirts with Treason

The big news: Longing to extend Democratic Party email embarrassments, Donald Trump asked Russia to conduct espionage against his political opponent… in a news conference… without an inkling of the criminal intent… Now that’s news. That’s a top story.

Trump was asked about the Democratic National Committee email leak in April that led to an awkward beginning to the Democratic National Convention three months later, an obvious partisan political effort to tilt the scales in the election.

Donald Trump brushed off his involvement and denied knowing Putin or having any business at all in Russia. “Never met him,” and “zero” business dealings were his answers, which were two big lies – among others.

But then Trump stepped in it big time with a direct plea to his friends – a top tier adversary. Trump beseeched his comrade, Putin. “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Historic campaign rhetoric endangers national security

For the first time in the history of our country, a major presidential candidate publicly encouraged a foreign adversary to conduct espionage against a political opponent. That’s not hyperbole – just fact. Trump elevated the DNC email scandal from a matter of politics to a national security issue.

Stunned reaction universal but Republicans avoid cameras

A CNN panel hosted by John Berman and Kate Bouduan, included David Gregory, a Political Analyst, formerly with NBC and S.E. Cupp. They had a lot to say.

John Berman opened with “It is unusual, which is a charitable way of putting it, for a presidential candidate to call on the intelligence services of another nation to hack into American government emails, but that’s what Donald Trump just did!”

David Gregory replied on CNN

“You know I’ve run out of words to express my shock and how completely beyond the pale that Donald Trump is to be the leader of the free world, the Commander in Chief of our country. This is truly beyond the pale, I mean he is encouraging Russia, which by all accounts was behind the leak of one of major parties, to do more, to go beyond, to try to hack into Hillary Clinton’s server to find missing emails. To kind of get in the middle of the scandal. It’s as if this is a child that is playing with matches that doesn’t understand how badly he and the country can get burned. It is a very serious thing. …”

“The one thing about Donald Trump is that he is very clear for all to see. He is making very clear what he thinks. How he comes by information. And I think the lack of seriousness and frankly the intemperance with which he speaks about important national security matters should certainly give people pause, and I don’t think that is anything but a fair reading of what we’ve seen here.”

“Vladimir Putin is dangerous. He has been dangerous to a Democratic president, a Republican president. President George W. Bush who thought he had a better relationship with him, and now, this nominee of the Republican Party nominee wants a closer relationship with Vladimir Putin which is what he said, he has the ability to have a better relationship – there is no evidence to believe that’s the case.”

S. E. Cupp on CNN

Political commentator S. E. Cupp noted through the use of an analogy that “Trump treats our NATO allies like lessees in one of his buildings. If the faucet is leaking, he’ll fix it only if the rent is paid up. There is a real disconnect between his support of dictators and his dismissal of allies. What he said today is startling!”

“There is one reason (Trump) is having this press conference. That’s because the idea that Russia is somehow meddling in our election is a cementing story. He has to come out and act like he has nothing to do with it.”

“I don’t know if he has anything to do with it, but it is very clear he has made a number of statements pleasing to Russia and Vladimir Putin, and Russia has been clearly interested in propping up Donald Trump.”

“And this is the story of the year if it turns out that Russia has meddled in our election. That’s why Trump is talking about it.”

~ Jeff

 Jeff Washington is Washington Underground

Twitter: Follow Jeff @WashingtonUG

Email: shameyawards@gmail.com

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Black and white image of Vladimir Putin with Donald Trump from a Slate article explaining why Franklin Foer in Slate tagged Trump with the derogatory nickname Putin’s Puppet.

Read more about Trump and his call for Russia to hack U.S. government servers in media and propaganda categories.