TRUMP CLAIMS CALL FOR RUSSIA TO HACK CLINTON EMAILS WAS JUST "A JOKE"
Days after Michael Cohen’s testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, President Trump is downplaying one of his most obvious flirtations with Russian collusion. A wide-ranging speech during the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday saw a curious change to the defense of Trump’s 2016 invitation for Russian hackers to procure the 33,000 emails Hillary Clinton purportedly deleted, as Trump now claims he was just “having fun with the audience.”
“I’ve learned, because with the fake news, if you tell a joke, if you’re sarcastic, if you’re having fun with the audience,” Trump lamented during the two-hour speech, one of the lengthiest of his presidency, “If you say something like ‘Russia, please if you can, get us Hillary Clinton’s emails, please, Russia, please, please get us the emails.’”
The specter of Trump inviting Russian hacking was prevalent during Michael Cohen’s testimony this week, as the former fixer claimed Roger Stone gave Trump and campaign staff advance notice that WikiLeaks would be publishing hacked Democratic emails in the summer of 2016, to which Trump reportedly replied “wouldn’t that be great.” Special investigator Robert Mueller is investigating potential collusion between Russian agents and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, and Trump’s “Russia, if you’re listening” moment is frequently cited as example of suspicious behavior.
“So everybody is having a good time, I’m laughing, we’re all having fun,” Trump continued in his speech, punctuated by renewed “lock her up” chants. “Then that fake CNN and others say, ‘He asked Russia to go get the emails. Horrible,’ These people are sick, and I’m telling you, they know the game and they play it dirty, dirtier than anybody has ever played the game.” NBC’s Katy Tur subsequently questioned Trump’s claims of sarcasm, referencing an exchange they had immediately after the 2016 incident in which Trump doubled-down on the invitation.
Federal prosecutors filed an indictment against twelve Russians last year, alleging they attempted to hack Clinton’s personal email server the same day as Trump’s comments.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/trump-russia-emails-joke-cpac-speech
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