Donald Trump’s incredible new defense of his Russia-spying-on-Hillary comments: Just kidding!

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A day after making comments calling on Russia to find Hillary Clinton's deleted e-mails, Donald Trump has a novel explanation for all of it: I was joking! Here's his exchange with "Fox and Friends" from July 28:

BRIAN KILMEADE: Clinton campaign says this is a national security issue. Now, the idea that you'd have any American calling for a foreign power to commit espionage in the US for the purpose of somehow changing an election, I think that we're now in a national security space. Your reaction?
TRUMP: You have to be kidding. His client, his person, deleted 33,000 e-mails illegally. You look at that. And when I'm being sarcastic with something —
KILMEADE: Were you being sarcastic?
TRUMP: Of course, I'm being sarcastic. But you have 33,000 e-mails deleted, and the real problem is what was said in those e-mails from the Democratic National Committee. You take a look at what was said in those e-mails — it's disgraceful. It's disgraceful. They talk about religion, they talk about race, they talk about all sorts of things, including women, and what they said in those e-mails is a disgrace.

Trump backer and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani offered the same explanation later on CNN: "No. He was telling a joke. When he got off the plane, he tweeted out the e-mails should be sent to the FBI. He was joking around."


Donald Trump’s incredible new defense of his Russia-spying-on-Hillary comments: Just kidding!