Trump backtracked on his remarks implying that Russia should hack Hillary Clinton's emails. | Getty Trump on Russia hacking comments: 'Of course I'm being sarcastic'

Donald Trump says he was "being sarcastic" when he suggested Wednesday that Russia should find Hillary Clinton's missing emails.

"Of course I'm being sarcastic. And they don't even know frankly if it's Russia," Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade set to air in full Thursday morning.


Trump continued, "They have no idea if it's Russia, if it's China, if it's somebody else. Who knows who it is?"

"But you have 33,000 emails deleted and the real problem is what was said on those emails from the Democratic National Committee," Trump remarked. "You take a look at what was said on those emails, it's disgraceful. It's disgraceful. They talk about religion, they talk about race, they talk about all sorts of things, including women. And what they said on those emails is a disgrace, and they're just trying to deflect from that."

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort also called Trump's remark "sarcastic" on the same network.

"Well it wasn't really a joke, per se. It was more tongue-in-cheek, like we've been saying simply because that is the issue," spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said on "The Kelly File," suggesting that the focus of the story should be in on the Democratic email hack itself.

Trump was at the center of an uproar Wednesday after he said at a press conference that Russia should help find Clinton's missing emails. “I will tell you this, Russia, if you're listening I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”