LIVE POST: Democratic National Convention Day 3, starts at 4:30pm EST
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PHILADELPHIA - Democrats have a big night planned Wednesday, with President Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Tim Kaine addressing the convention. But Donald J. Trump is getting the most attention today for controversial comments about Russia’s alleged hacking.
Donald Trump makes provocative statements about Russian hacking and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power’s cyberspying on a secretary of state’s correspondence.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, staring directly into the cameras.
Mr. Trump’s call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election. His comments came amid questions about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers, which researchers have concluded was likely the work of two Russian intelligence agencies.
The Clinton campaign immediately accused Mr. Trump of both encouraging Russian espionage against the United States and meddling in domestic politics.
Tim Kaine goes after Trump on his NATO stance.
Mr. Kaine, Mrs. Clinton’s newly selected running mate, attacked Mr. Trump on Wednesday over his comments about NATO, saying Mr. Trump wants to leave members of the alliance “to the mercies of a big bad wolf Russia and Vladimir Putin.”
“The most foolish thing you could do in terms of our safety as a community is to shed the alliances we have with nations all over the world,” Mr. Kaine said at a breakfast for the Virginia delegation on Wednesday, “and Donald Trump is a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to the alliances that we have with other nations.”
Obama will implore voters to elect Clinton and defend his legacy.
There will most likely never be another stage as big for Barack Obama as the one for his address on Wednesday night, when he will try to bequeath his electoral coalition to the woman he once defeated.
In some ways, Mr. Obama’s appearance will be his best shot at offering a vigorous defense of his eight-year legacy in the White House. He will make it clear to the millions watching that Mrs. Clinton is the best hope for continuing his policies.
Mr. Obama will deliver the remarks exactly 12 years to the day after he startled attendees at Senator John Kerry’s convention with a powerful speech about the divisions in the country that he wanted to overcome.
The speech on Wednesday night will be a kind of bookend to that 2004 address, aides say. But rather than announcing that the ideological breaches have been bridged, Mr. Obama will acknowledge that the country is, if anything, more divided than ever.
A wistful Biden takes a stage that might have been his own.
Few things are certain in politics, but this is one: Mr. Biden still harbors regrets that he didn’t make one final attempt to win the office he has pined for all his life.
He will most likely never publicly express that regret, of course, and particularly not on Wednesday, when he delivers what is sure to be a powerful endorsement of Mrs. Clinton.
But many people in Washington think that in his heart, Mr. Biden still wishes he had thrown his hat into the ring. Logic, and plenty of his advisers, had urged him not to, telling him he would very likely have lost, perhaps badly. And he was still emotionally fragile after the death of his son Beau to cancer.
Whatever he might think, though, Mr. Biden is a loyal Democrat, and his speech will almost certainly feature the gritty passion that is his trademark.
Here are a few of the biggest attractions on Wednesday night:
• Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate minority leader
• Former Representative Gabby Giffords and her husband, the former astronaut Mark Kelly, gun control advocates
• Former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who endorsed Mrs. Clinton this week
• Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
• Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democratic vice presidential candidate
• President Obama
Here’s what you missed...
In a historic vote, Democrats formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president, making her the first female standard-bearer for a major political party. But she has taken a low-profile in the early days of the convention, leaving the spotlight to surrogates like her husband and Meryl Streep.
The scene outside the convention hall offered protests by Bernie Sanders supporters, a snarl of logistics for journalists and delegates, and even an impromptu birthday celebration on a late-night subway train.
American intelligence agencies have told the White House they now have “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, according to federal officials who have been briefed on the evidence.
Source
PHILADELPHIA - Democrats have a big night planned Wednesday, with President Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Tim Kaine addressing the convention. But Donald J. Trump is getting the most attention today for controversial comments about Russia’s alleged hacking.
Donald Trump makes provocative statements about Russian hacking and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power’s cyberspying on a secretary of state’s correspondence.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, staring directly into the cameras.
Mr. Trump’s call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election. His comments came amid questions about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers, which researchers have concluded was likely the work of two Russian intelligence agencies.
The Clinton campaign immediately accused Mr. Trump of both encouraging Russian espionage against the United States and meddling in domestic politics.
Tim Kaine goes after Trump on his NATO stance.
Mr. Kaine, Mrs. Clinton’s newly selected running mate, attacked Mr. Trump on Wednesday over his comments about NATO, saying Mr. Trump wants to leave members of the alliance “to the mercies of a big bad wolf Russia and Vladimir Putin.”
“The most foolish thing you could do in terms of our safety as a community is to shed the alliances we have with nations all over the world,” Mr. Kaine said at a breakfast for the Virginia delegation on Wednesday, “and Donald Trump is a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to the alliances that we have with other nations.”
Obama will implore voters to elect Clinton and defend his legacy.
There will most likely never be another stage as big for Barack Obama as the one for his address on Wednesday night, when he will try to bequeath his electoral coalition to the woman he once defeated.
In some ways, Mr. Obama’s appearance will be his best shot at offering a vigorous defense of his eight-year legacy in the White House. He will make it clear to the millions watching that Mrs. Clinton is the best hope for continuing his policies.
Mr. Obama will deliver the remarks exactly 12 years to the day after he startled attendees at Senator John Kerry’s convention with a powerful speech about the divisions in the country that he wanted to overcome.
The speech on Wednesday night will be a kind of bookend to that 2004 address, aides say. But rather than announcing that the ideological breaches have been bridged, Mr. Obama will acknowledge that the country is, if anything, more divided than ever.
A wistful Biden takes a stage that might have been his own.
Few things are certain in politics, but this is one: Mr. Biden still harbors regrets that he didn’t make one final attempt to win the office he has pined for all his life.
He will most likely never publicly express that regret, of course, and particularly not on Wednesday, when he delivers what is sure to be a powerful endorsement of Mrs. Clinton.
But many people in Washington think that in his heart, Mr. Biden still wishes he had thrown his hat into the ring. Logic, and plenty of his advisers, had urged him not to, telling him he would very likely have lost, perhaps badly. And he was still emotionally fragile after the death of his son Beau to cancer.
Whatever he might think, though, Mr. Biden is a loyal Democrat, and his speech will almost certainly feature the gritty passion that is his trademark.
Here are a few of the biggest attractions on Wednesday night:
• Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate minority leader
• Former Representative Gabby Giffords and her husband, the former astronaut Mark Kelly, gun control advocates
• Former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who endorsed Mrs. Clinton this week
• Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
• Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democratic vice presidential candidate
• President Obama
Here’s what you missed...
In a historic vote, Democrats formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president, making her the first female standard-bearer for a major political party. But she has taken a low-profile in the early days of the convention, leaving the spotlight to surrogates like her husband and Meryl Streep.
The scene outside the convention hall offered protests by Bernie Sanders supporters, a snarl of logistics for journalists and delegates, and even an impromptu birthday celebration on a late-night subway train.
American intelligence agencies have told the White House they now have “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, according to federal officials who have been briefed on the evidence.
Source