Donald Trump invited Russia to hack Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, asking them to find “the 30,000 emails that are missing” from her time as secretary of state.

“It would be interesting to see, I will tell you this, Russia, if you're listening I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” the Republican nominee said at a news conference in Florida. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Story Continued Below

Trump also downplayed his connection to Russian President Vladimir Putin, although he had previously said during a Republican debate that there were “stablemates” and he got to know him “very well” when they were both interviewed for 60 Minutes.

However, it was quickly pointed out that Putin and Trump were interviewed in different countries and Trump then sought to clarify his comments, tweeting “I only said I was on @60Minutes four weeks ago with Putin — never said I was in Green Room. Separate pieces—great ratings!”

Trump was also asked about his relationship with Putin, to which he responded, “I don’t know who Putin is. He said one nice thing about me. … I never met Putin.”

(Trump has said Putin called him a "genius," a claim the Washington Post's fact checker said was false.)

He added, “I would treat Vladimir Putin firmly, but there is nothing I can think of that I would rather do than have Russia friendly as opposed to the way they are right now so that we can go knockout ISIS together with other people and other countries,” he said. “Wouldn't it be nice if we got along with people?”

Trump also doubled down his commitment to improving relations with Russia.

“President Trump would be so much better for U.S.-Russian relations. You can't be worse,” he said. He later added, “One thing that I've always heard is you never want to do anything to unite Russia and China. Well, they're united now in a true sense. They've never been closer. They're selling oil to China. We forced them into this position.”

The discussion of Putin comes amid Democratic accusations that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails. Trump said that's a "sideshow" to distract from the contents of the emails.

Trump later suggested Russia or China could have been responsible for the hacks, but maintained that the culprit is unknown. The hack, he added, was a “total sign of disrespect.”