Trump makes false claims about his 'Russia if you're listening' plea during Pennsylvania rally

(REUTERS)

Donald Trump uttered another false statement Saturday night during his latest rally in battleground Pennsylvania, claiming he uttered his “Russia, if you’re listening” line in 2016 about the contents of Democartic emails as a campaign rally joke rather than the press conference where he actually said it.

Days later, Wikileaks published reams of emails from then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and other top Demnocatic officials.

The president also falsely claimed his comments then were “cut off” by the US media. To the contrary, news networks still play them and did over and over during the 2016 election cycle.

This is what Mr Trump said during a July 2016 press conference: "Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," referring to emails from a private e-mail server while she was Secretary of State under the Obama administration.

"Trump told a roomful of TV cameras and reporters (including this fact-checker).

Then-candidate Trump wasn’t finished with his plea that day.

“I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens,” he said to unnamed Russians.