Attention Humorless Russians: Stop Hacking Now; Donald Trump Was Only Kidding

Donald Trump said Thursday that he was only joking when he encouraged Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton's State Department emails and make them public. Trump scurried into a rare retreat after the comments were widely interpreted as encouragement for a cyber attack against the United States and "tantamount to treason."

“Of course I’m being sarcastic,” Trump said in a Fox News interview that was taped Wednesday and aired Thursday.

Trump's comments Wednesday — “Russia, if you’re listening," he said, "I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing" — set off a mad scramble among Republican officials tripping over themselves to distance themselves from his emarks.

Trump's comments appeared serious at the time, and he doubled-down on them with a tweet afterward. The New York Times, The Washington Post and various, respected international publications all reported Trump's remarks without mentioning a hint of sarcasm. His comments came, in fact, during a news conference in which he told a reporter to "be quiet" and did not joke at all.

Further, his team spent most of Wednesday explaining why what Trump said wasn't all that bad. Noticeably absent from their efforts: Any argument that he had just been kidding.

Security officials say they believe that hacks of Democratic National Committee emails originated from Russia.

While he walked back his calls for Russia to hack U.S. intelligence, Trump didn't back-pedal on his admiration for Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin.

“I said he’s a better leader than Obama,” Trump said. “I said he’s a better leader than Obama, because Obama’s not a leader, so he’s certainly doing a better job than Obama is, and that’s all.”

Speaker Paul Ryan and Trump's running mate Mike Pence both released statements shortly after Trump's press conference saying in no uncertain terms that Russia is an enemy of the United States.

PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump Openly Encourages Russian Cyberspying Against U.S.; Challenges Spies To Hack State Department Emails

Other Republicans stepped in and defended Trump's remarks.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, speaking on "The Mark Gallagher Show," said, "The Russians have those emails, they’ve had them for some time.”

“If they could get into that DNC server, they owned her server in Poughkeepsie," Giuliani said, referring to the private server on which Clinton conducted official business. She was not charged following an FBI investigation, and FBI head James Comey said there was no evidence to believe her server had been hacked.

And Pence doubled down on Trump's assertion that the comments were just a joke.

"They've taken a sarcastic comment, suggested that he was encouraging that activity all the while ignoring the extraordinary revelations in these emails of collusion of horrible statements regarding race, ethnicity and religion," Pence told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.

Trump's former ghostwriter, who helped him write "The Art of the Deal" but has since been outspoken in his opposition for Trump's campaign, wasn't buying that Trump was joking:

At the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday evening, Trump's comments provided plenty of fodder for the night's speakers.

"This morning, this very morning, he invited Russia to hack us," retired Navy Adm. John Hutson said. "That's not law and order, that's criminal intent."

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta said Trump "gets his foreign policy experience from watching TV and running the Miss Universe pageant."

"If only it were funny. It is deadly serious," he continued. "Donald Trump is asking one of our adversaries to engage in hacking or intelligence efforts against the United States to affect our election."

Image via Rick Uldricks, Patch