But the plain text of Trump’s lengthy 10,000-word press conference today shows him repeatedly saying that the hackers — likely Russians — should release the emails they have already hacked from Hillary Clinton’s email server at the Department of State.
So Trump’s media-magnified sentence — “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing” — refers to emails that he thinks have already been hacked and stored away in some Russian server farm.
Logically, Trump can’t be asking the Russian to hack emails tomorrow when they have already been hacked from sloppily protected U.S. computers, and then stashed away in a server in Siberia.
Trump also suggested that the Russians have already hacked emails from Obama’s Democratic National Committee.
When asked about the DNC emails, Trump repeatedly says Russia has likely already hacked emails from the DNC computers. According the transcript provided by The Washington Post, he said;
But I watched this guy [Clinton campaign manager Robby] Mook and he talked aboutwe think it was Russia that hacked [the DNC computers]… assuming it’s Russia or China or one of the major countries and competitors, it’s a total sign of disrespect for our country … Why do I have to get involved with Putin? I have nothing to do with Putin. I’ve never spoken to him. I don’t know anything about him other than he will respect me …
When he was asked about Clinton’s missing 30,000 or 33,000 emails from her work at the Department of State, Trump repeatedly suggests that the Russians already hacked and stored the 30,000 taxpayer-owned emails.
Also, Clinton says her lawyers deleted those many emails, which means they are now literally impossible to hack in the future.
So there’s no purpose or possibility of hacking already hacked (and deleted) emails.
By the way, they hacked — they probably have her 33,000 e-mails. I hope they do. They probably have her 33,000 e-mails that she lost and deleted because you’d see some beauties there. So let’s see.
QUESTION: (inaudible) Putin (ph) say stay out? Why not say that?
TRUMP: Why do I have to (ph) get involved with Putin? I have nothing to do with Putin. I’ve never spoken to him. I don’t know anything about him other than he will respect me. He doesn’t respect our president. And if it is Russia — which it’s probably not, nobody knows who it is — but if it is Russia, it’s really bad for a different reason, because it shows how little respect they have for our country, when they would hack into a major party and get everything. But it would be interesting to see — I will tell you this — Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens. That’ll be next. Yes, sir…
So Trump accepts Clinton’s claim that the emails are deleted — and are thus impossible to hack.
Much later on, Trump gets asked about Russian hackers again, and he responds:
TRUMP: No, but they seem to be, if it’s Russians. I have no idea. It’s probably not Russia. Nobody knows if it’s Russia. You know the sad thing is? That with the technology and the genius we have in this country, not in government unfortunately, but with the genius we have in government, we don’t even know who took the Democratic National Committee e-mails. We don’t even know who it is.
I heard this morning, one report said they don’t think it’s Russia, they think it might be China. Another report said it might be just a hacker, some guy with a 200 I.Q. that can’t get up in the morning, OK? Nobody knows. Honestly they have no idea if it’s Russia. Might be Russia. But if it’s any foreign country, it shows how little respect they have for the United States. Yes, ma’am.
After another series of questions and answers, he again is asked about Russia’s possible involvement in the U.S. election. This time, the question is framed as ‘Why are you asking a foreign country to hack into U.S. computers?’
In response, he dismisses the reporter as a Democratic ally, he blames Clinton for the missing 33,000 emails and again repeats the suggestion that the Russians (or Chinese) may already have the emails.
QUESTION: Do you have any pause (ph) about asking a foreign government — Russia, China, anybody — to interfere, to hack into the system of anybody’s in this country…
…TRUMP: Well, they probably have them. I’d like to have them released.
QUESTION: Does that not give you pause?
TRUMP: No, it gives me no pause. If they have them, they have them. We might as well — hey, you know what gives me more pause? That a person in our government, crooked Hillary Clinton — here’s what gives me pause. Be quiet. I know you want to save her. That a person in our government, Katy, would delete or get rid of 33,000 e-mails. That gives me a big problem. After she gets a subpoena! She gets subpoenaed, and she gets rid of 33,000 e-mails? That gives me a problem (ph). Now, if Russia or China or any other country has those e-mails, I mean, to be honest with you, I’d love to see them.
So Trump repeatedly says and suggests that the emails may already have been hacked. He repeatedly urges anyone with copies of the Clinton’s 33,000 taxpayer-owned mails to release them— and he does not urge the Russians to break into Americans’ computers.
That means the supposedly damning passage — “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing — refers to emails that have already been hacked and stored away in some Russian server farm.
