In July 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump called on the Russian government to hack the emails of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton . It wouldn’t be long before the scandal of Russian election interference would dominate headlines for much of the campaign and Trump’s presidency. And Trump has since claimed that his public call — for Russians to “find the 30,000 emails” so that “our press” could have a field day — was somehow a joke.
But in the intervening years, the former and perhaps future leader of the free world has provided ample evidence that he wasn’t, well, joking at all. In a 2019 interview with ABC , the then-sitting president explicitly stated that “I think I’d take it,” when asked if he would accept dirt on a political opponent that was offered up to him by a foreign power. Trump only added he’d “go maybe to the FBI” if he thought “there was something wrong.
” Today, the shoe is entirely on the other foot, with Trump and his campaign now the victims of an alleged foreign hacking and leaking operation during the most crucial months of a close American presidential contest. This time, it doesn’t seem to be Russia. Team Trump is pointing the finger at Iran; Rolling Stone has yet to independently verify that claim.
The FBI is investigating the alleged hack. According to two sources familiar with the matter, the Trump team has been scrambling to assess the extent of the damage, and how, exactly, the apparent hacking may affect diff.