Trump's Request to Russia to Find Hillary Clinton's Missing Emails

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in the United States, on Wednesday, August 6, called on Russia to publish thirty thousand 'missing' emails of Hillary Clinton from her tenure as Secretary of State. In a conversation with reporters in Miami, Trump said, 'Russia! If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the thirty thousand emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.' According to Reuters, Hillary Clinton's campaign immediately accused Trump of encouraging 'Russia to spy on the U.S. and influence the election.' Jake Sullivan, a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton, also linked this issue to U.S. national security, stating, 'This is the first time a major presidential candidate has encouraged a foreign country to spy on a political rival.' The FBI previously stated that Clinton's use of a personal server for her emails was 'extremely careless' but did not recommend criminal charges. Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General, also accepted the FBI's recommendation on July 7, stating that no charges would be brought against Clinton. However, Clinton's critics believe that her use of a personal server for work emails while she was Secretary of State endangered U.S. national security. The resurfacing of Clinton's email issue comes after WikiLeaks recently published nineteen thousand internal emails from the Democratic National Committee, revealing that some DNC members were trying to use Bernie Sanders' ideological beliefs against him during the primary competition with Clinton. Following this revelation, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the DNC, resigned on Monday, August 4. Bernie Sanders, who supported Clinton's candidacy, described Wasserman Schultz's resignation as 'the right decision' for the future of the Democratic Party. According to Reuters, some U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts say there is evidence suggesting that Russia aims to influence the U.S. presidential election by releasing DNC emails. Russia has denied these allegations. Trump, in his remarks on Wednesday, deemed this possibility 'very unlikely' but urged Russia, China, or any other country that could access these emails to release them. Some reports suggest that the recent WikiLeaks revelations could undermine the Democrats' coordinated efforts to compete with Trump. The U.S. presidential election is scheduled for November 8 of this year.