Trump says Russia should find Clinton's missing emails

Donald Trump has a message for Russia: find HillaryClinton's missing emails. But his running mate, Mike Pence, issending mixed signals.

In a Miami press conference Wednesday, the Republicanpresidential nominee said that the 30,000 missing emails fromClinton's private email server would reveal "some beauties" andmade an extraordinary plea for a foreign power to locate them.

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"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said. "I think you'll berewarded mightily by our press!"

Clinton's campaign claims that Russia hacked computers belongingto the Democratic National Committee and released those emails onthe eve of the party's convention to benefit Trump's candidacy.

Theemails, published by WikiLeaks last week, revealed that the DNCfavoured Clinton's candidacy over rival Bernie Sanders, triggering aleadership shakeup within the DNC.

Trump dismissed the claims, saying it's not clear who hackedthose emails, but the incident is a sign that foreign countries nolonger respect the U.S.

"If it's any foreign country it shows how little respect theyhave for the United States," said Trump, who added that he was"not an email person myself because I believe it can be hacked."

'I'd love to see them'

Moments after he took the final question, Pence condemned thepossible cyber-espionage, breaking from Trump for the first timesince being selected as his vice-president.

"If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, Ican assure you both parties and the United States government willensure there are serious consequences," Pence said in a statement.

Trump, whom Democrats have accused of having cozy ties withRussian President Vladimir Putin, repeatedly declined to condemn theactions of Russia or any other foreign power of trying to intervenein the a U.S. election.

"No, it gives me no pause," the celebrity businessman said.

"If Russia or China or any of those country gets those emails, I'vegot to be honest with you, I'd love to see them."

The Clinton campaign immediately denounced Trump's call.

"This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent," senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "That's not hyperbole, those are just the facts. This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue."

Trump also suggested that Clinton should not receive any securitybriefings due to the hack that would ensure "that word will getout."

Trump and Russia?

Trump has said that he has "zero investments" in Russia andinsisted that his company had not received any significantinvestments from the country. He also has downplayed his affectionfor Putin and said he would treat the Russian leader "firmly,"though he said he wanted to improve relations with Russia.

SomeDemocrats and security experts have said that Trump's proposal toset conditions on NATO allies could risk Russian expansion inEastern Europe.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, said "anything's possible"when asked during an interview whether the Russians could be workingto sway the election toward Trump.

"Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for VladimirPutin," Obama said during the sit-down with NBC News that airedTuesday. "And I think that Trump's gotten pretty favourablecoverage back in Russia."

Obamaand the other NATO leaders have accused Russia of "destabilizing actions and politics," including its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The actfuelledangst in the Eastern Europe about Russian aggression.

Trump said, if elected, he'll look into whether Russia was justified in seizing control of the Ukranian region of Crimea.

When asked at a press conference Wednesday whether he would recognize Crimea as Russian territory and if he would consider lifting sanctions against Moscow, Trump said: "We'll be looking at that. Yeah, we'll be looking."

Earlier this month, Trump suggested the U.S. could abandon its NATO treaty commitments in some cases.