Mike Pence and Donald Trump do not agree on the fact that Russia is behind the hacks of the DNC. On Sunday, Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, was a guest on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Mr. Pence was asked to share his thoughts on the hacking of several high-profile Americans and organizations – all connected to the Democratic party. WikiLeaks‘s founder, Julian Assange, who is linked to Russia, dumped a significant amount of emails that he stole from the DNC and John Podesta, the chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
The emails contained some of the paid speeches Clinton gave to Wall Street and the revelation that Bill Clinton received millions of dollars from foreign countries. Former CNN contributor and now DNC interim chair Donna Brazile also received a CNN town hall question ahead of the event.
The embarrassing contents point to an outside group mingling into the election in support of Mr. Trump. Last week, former Acting CIA Director Mike Morrell said for the first time that Russia was behind the hacking. He said:
“It was absolutely clear … WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2 are working with the Russians on this.”
Department of Homeland Security has also issued a statement blaming Russia for the hack. Despite the facts, Trump, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he still does not think that Russia is behind the security breaches. At the fiery second presidential debate, Trump said:
“The reason they blame Russia is that they are trying to tarnish me with Russia.”
Pence split with his running mate on the issue by explaining:
“There’s more and more evidence that implicates Russia and the Obama administration to take action against Moscow.”
The remark stands in contrast to Trump’s claims that those saying Russia is to blame are really trying to disparage the Republican presidential ticket. Pence went on to add:
“I think there’s more and more evidence that implicates Russia. Moreover, there should be serious consequences if Russia is violating the in the privacy and security of the American people. And I certainly hope what the vice president said this morning is something they follow through on. This is an administration that has too often spoken things on the foreign stage and then not followed through.”
There have been reports of the US planning to attack Russia for the breach, and Vice President Joe Biden seemed to confirm the news. Biden said:
“The administration would take counteractions against Moscow at the time of our choosing, and under the circumstances that will have the greatest impact.”
Some political experts argue that the Trump campaign has stopped coordinating their positions after the Access Hollywood surfaced about ten days ago.
