Jason Noble

jnoble2@dmreg.com

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is suggesting that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may have violated federal law this week when he expressed hope that Russia had hacked into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Vilsack raised the possibility in speeches to the Iowa and Wisconsin delegations to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday morning that Trump could have violated the Logan Act which, as he described it, prohibits Americans from “siding with the enemy.”

"That’s a no-no. You can’t do that," Vilsack said. "That’s not legal, that’s not right. Yesterday, Donald Trump sided with Russia and not with us."

Vilsack is a Cabinet secretary in President Barack Obama's administration and was a finalist to become Clinton’s running mate.

That suggestion stems from comments Trump made during a Wednesday news conference in Florida, when he said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

The 200-year-old Logan Act bars Americans from engaging in “correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government … with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States.”

“What about yesterday?” Vilsack asked the Iowa delegation, referring to Trump's comments. “What about yesterday, where he invited a foreign country with which we have an adversarial relationship, to inject itself into our politics?”

Voices in the crowd at, in response, called out “Treason!” although Vilsack himself declined to go that far.

“That is an offense,” he said.

When asked in a follow-up interview he believed Trump had actually violated the Logan Act — which would be a felony — he said it should be investigated.

“I think it’s something that people should carefully and closely look into,” Vilsack said. “I think certainly at the very least it was inappropriate for him to side with Russia yesterday, and I think it’s another indication of why he’s disqualified to be president.”

Trump, in an interview aired on Fox News on Thursday morning, said his comment about Russia hacking and leaking sensitive government information was not intended to be taken seriously.

"Of course I'm being sarcastic," Trump told "Fox and Friends" host Brian Kilmeade. "But you have 33,000 emails deleted, and the real problem is what was said on those emails from the Democratic National Committee. You take look at what was said on those emails, it's disgraceful."

The Clinton campaign referred a request for comment Thursday to a statement released Wednesday by senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan:

"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," Sullivan said. "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."