Pompeo: Trump likely joking when urging Russia to hack Clinton’s e-mail

Rep. Mike Pompeo said in an interview Wednesday that he thought Donald Trump might have been speaking in jest when he urged Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s e-mails.

Trump said earlier Wednesday that “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’ll be able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you’ll probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” His comments at a Florida news conference came in reference to deleted e-mails from the private account Clinton used as secretary of state.

“I’m not at all sure he’s not joking,” said Pompeo, a Wichita Republican who serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

“Of course we shouldn’t encourage the Russians to hack into anybody’s e-mail, but this wouldn’t have been an issue if Hillary Clinton hadn’t put classified information on her private server,” he said.

Pompeo said he stands by his support for Trump.

“He’ll ultimately have to clarify or explain what he was saying, but I’m confident that Mr. Trump and Mr. (Mike) Pence both believe that protecting private citizens’ information from foreign government hacking is of paramount importance.”

“I have concerns when anyone invites the Russians to engage in misadventures,” Pompeo said. But “the risk to the United States of America (posed by Trump’s comments on Wednesday) pales in comparison to the risk that Secretary Clinton poses to America for her wanton disregard for America’s national security laws. It’s not remotely close.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Pompeo: Trump likely joking when urging Russia to hack Clinton’s e-mail."