On Jul 27, Trump said: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 [Clinton] emails that are missing.” When Trump said this, some responded he was joking. Trump then double downed in an interview with Katy Tur and was obviously NOT joking. We learned in a Mueller July 2018 indictment that within hours Russia did start, “the Conspirators … attempted after hours to spear-phish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third-party provider and used by Clinton’s personal office.”
- Katy Tur asked Trump the next day if he was joking when he asked Russia to hack our computer systems. Trump VERY CLEARLY said, no, I was not kidding. She’s asked several times after that too. Each time Trump said he was not joking.
- Trump was asked many times to walk back the statement. He refused although others have said he was joking.
- Russia did in fact actually start hacking HRC servers just hours after Trump asked.
- We now know for a FACT that Trump and the Trump Campaign had over 150 contacts with Russian assets and spies during the campaign. It’s a reality that the normal interaction for a Presidential campaign with any Russians is ZERO.
- It’s a FACT that Kushner tried to set up a backdoor communication path with Russia that “got around” our government and national security.
Verified: Not in dispute. What’s in dispute is if it’s a crime or not.
Likely Not a Crime: In July 2019 a judge in DC dismissed a DNC lawsuit regarding Trump’s culpability in this matter.