Donald Trump admitted Thursday that he did not know for certain that Hillary Clinton's private email server had been hacked by a foreign government, but he insisted that the breach had occurred.
"I think I read that," the presumptive Republican nominee said when asked by NBC News anchor
Lester Holt whether he had any evidence of the former secretary of state's email being hacked beyond phishing.
In the interview at Trump Tower, Holt pressed the developer on the accusation, which he made on Wednesday in a speech slamming the Democrat in New York City.
Here's a portion of "The NBC Nightly News" interview, according to a transcript provided by the network:
HOLT: "Is there any evidence it was hacked other than routine phishing?"
TRUMP: "I think I read that — and I heard it, and somebody … "
HOLT: "Where?"
TRUMP: " … That also gave me that information. I will report back to you. I’ll give it to you."
HOLT: "But you just said it with such certainty yesterday."
TRUMP: "I don’t know if certainty. I — probably she was hacked. You know, a lot — you can be hacked and not know it, but she probably was hacked. The fact is she should not have it, she should not have had a personal server."
Obama administration officials have said that no evidence indicated that hackers breached Clinton's server, though there were indications of attempts at phishing.
The Clinton campaign has denied that the former first lady's server was breached.
Holt also challenged Trump on his claim that Clinton was asleep during the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens and two former Navy SEALs.
"I can tell you this: Whether she was sleeping or not, and she might have been sleeping, it was a horrific disaster," Trump told the anchor. "It was on her watch."