Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday in an interview on the Russian-backed RT cable channel that it is "probably unlikely" the Russian government is trying to influence the U.S. election through hacking into party computer systems.
"I think maybe the Democrats are putting that out. Who knows, but I think it’s pretty unlikely," Trump told Larry King, who hosts a program on the channel that critics have called a mouthpiece of the Russian government.
Trump said any foreign influence on U.S. elections would be "inappropriate," Politico reports.
"I hope that if they are doing something, I hope that somebody’s going to be able to find out that they can end it because that would not be appropriate at all," Trump said.
Earlier in the summer, Trump suggested the Russians should hack Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails to find the 30,000 emails she deleted before turning over the rest to the State Department. Following heavy criticism, his campaign said Trump was joking.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Wednesday told a national security summit that the Russians are likely behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee's emails that have been published by WikiLeaks.
"The Russians hack our systems all the time, not just government but also corporate," Clapper said.