Former National Security Officials Blast Trump's Russian Hacking Comments

After Donald Trump appeared to invite Russian hackers to retrieve emails deleted by Hillary Clinton, former national security officials are blasting Trump for seemingly encouraging spying by a foreign government.

At a press conference in Miami on Wednesday, the Republican presidential nominee said he hoped Russian hackers would try to dig up Clinton's deleted emails. The Clinton campaign quickly slammed Trump for the comments, saying in a statement, "This has the be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent." It didn't take long for major players in the national security sphere to join in.

Gen. Michael Hayden, the former director of both the CIA and the National Security Agency, criticized Trump in comments to Bloomberg's Eli Lake.

"If he's talking about State Dept emails on her server, he’s inviting a foreign intelligence service to steal sensitive US govt information"

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) July 27, 2016

"If he's talking about allegedly private emails she destroyed, he’s inviting foreign intel service to violate privacy of individual"

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) July 27, 2016

Adm. James Stavridis, who was once the highest-ranking officer in the Navy and was briefly mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Clinton, called Trump's comments "shocking and dangerous" in an interview with the Guardian. "In addition to the obvious domestic political implications of essentially inviting interference in our election, they will further undermine European confidence in the reliability of the US as an ally—particularly in the face of Russian adventurism," he said.

And former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta expressed shock at Trump's statements. "I find those kinds of statements to be totally outrageous," he told CNN.

Fmr. CIA Director Leon Panetta on Trump call for Russia HRC hacking: "That’s beyond the pale," unfit to be President pic.twitter.com/bV5rIcOr5O

— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) July 27, 2016