Donald Trump Openly Encourages Russian Cyberspying Against U.S.; Challenges Spies To Hack State Department Emails

Amid espionage charges against Russia and accusations that its spies are trying to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election, GOP nominee Donald Trump openly encouraged cyber-spying against the U.S. and challenged Russian spies to hack into State Department emails.

“Russia, if you’re listening," Trump said during a news conference from one of his golf courses, "I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens. That'll be next."

The stunning statement came as questions swirl around growing evidence of Russia's involvement in a hack of Democratic National Committee emails and the nation's attempts to sway the U.S. election in favor of Trump.

The Republican nominee dismissed a follow-up question about whether he had, in fact, just urged Russia to infiltrate U.S. intelligence.

“Be quiet," he told NBC's Katy Tur. "Let the president talk to them.”

Almost as soon as Trump left the stage — following a rambling press conference where he referred to John Hinckley Jr., as "David"; said that Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine had governed in New Jersey; and called the Geneva Convention "out of date" — his running mate Mike Pence disavowed Trump's comments about Russian hacking. He said there would be "serious consequences" if Russia is behind the DNC hacks.

And Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called Russia "a global menace led by a devious thug" and said that "Putin should stay out of this election."

But just to be sure you know where he stands, Trump doubled down on his assertion on Twitter after their two statements:

Trump has had plenty of praise for Putin during this election, calling him a better leader than President Obama. Putin has praised Trump in return.

And when asked Wednesday if he would call on Putin not to interfere with America's election, Trump deflected.

“I’m not going to tell Putin what to do,” Trump said. “Why should I tell Putin what to do?”

Image via Rick Uldrichs, Patch