Hillary Clinton has again blamed Russian intelligence services for hacking the Democratic National Committee computer system, accusing opponent Donald Trump of supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Clinton, in an interview with Fox News Sunday, said that “we know that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC.” The Fox interview was her first since clinching the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday night.
When questioned on if she believed Putin wanted Trump to win the presidency, Clinton said she would speculate.
“But I think laying out the facts raises serious issues about Russian interference in our elections, in our democracy,” she told Fox News. “For Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election I think raises national security issues,” she said.
“And we know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released and we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin,” she said.
Last week, following the hack of the DNC, Trump said in a press conference, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” A day later, Trump said, “Of course I’m being sarcastic,” in a Fox News interview.
Trump has been criticized for appearing to have a complimentary tone toward Putin. However, on Wednesday, Trump said he would act “firmly” toward Putin. Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, also issued a statement the same day Trump made the statement regarding the alleged Russian hacking, saying there would be “serious consequences” if Russia hacked the DNC.
Pence’s statement on Trump’s campaign website read, “If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences.”
The United States has not publicly accused Russia of being behind the hack of Democratic Party systems. Reuters reported that cyber security experts and U.S. officials believe Russia is behind the hack.
