In a press conference this morning, Donald Trump encouraged additional Russian cyber attacks saying, “[I]f you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Trump’s borderline treasonous request was instantly met with condemnation from national security experts as well as from fellow Republicans.
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta described Trump’s comments as “outrageous” and “beyond the pale”.
CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto described the Russian cyber attacks as a form of “low level war” and Russia as an “existential threat to the United States.”
Laura Galante, a cyber security expert found Trump’s comment to be “ground-breaking” and that, “The potential for this to insight aggression in cyber space is a serious risk.”
“Hacking email is a criminal activity. And he’s asked a foreign government — a murderous, repressive regime — to attack not just one of our citizens but the Democratic presidential candidate? Of course it’s a national security threat.” —Philip Reiner, former National Security Council official
“Trump’s appeal for a foreign government hostile to the United States to manipulate our electoral process is not an assault on Hillary Clinton, it is an assault on the Constitution.” — William Inboden, NSC official during the Bush administration.
Speaker Paul Ryan’s office immediately moved to distance themselves from Trump’s comments, issuing a statement calling for Putin to “stay out of the election.”
Mike Pence released a statement immediately following Trump’s speech that called for Russia to face “serious consequences. As noted by Katy Tur this statement is another moment that the two candidates were, “Very much at odds.”
Trump has a long history of praising Russia’s authoritarian strongman Vladimir Putin. Trump has now progressed from simply praising Putin to encouraging Russian attacks on United States assets. If there were any lingering questions about Trump’s fitness to be commander in chief, today’s Doral press conference demonstrated with stunning clarity that Trump is absolutely unfit for the job.
Published: Jul 27, 2016