The following article by Michael S. Schmidt was posted on the New York Times website July 13, 2018:
Donald J. Trump encouraged Russia at a news conference to find Hillary Clinton’s missing correspondence.Published OnJuly 27, 2016CreditImage by Todd Heisler/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — It was one of the more outlandish statements in a campaign replete with them: In a news conference in July 2016, Donald J. Trump made a direct appeal to Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails and make them public.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, referring to emails Mrs. Clinton had deleted from the private account she had used when she was secretary of state. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
As it turns out, that same day, the Russians — whether they had tuned in or not — made their first effort to break into the servers used by Mrs. Clinton’s personal office, according to a sweeping 29-page indictment unsealed Friday by the special counsel’s office that charged 12 Russians with election hacking.
View the complete article on the New York Times website here.