By Greg Richter From Newsmax

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump came under criticism from many in the intelligence community Wednesday, including Republicans, after suggesting Russia find missing emails deleted from Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

Among them were former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden, who served under President George W. Bush, who said, according to Bloomberg, “If he is talking about the State Department e-mails on her server, he is inviting a foreign intelligence service to steal sensitive American government information. If he is talking about the allegedly private e-mails that she destroyed, he is inviting a foreign intelligence service to violate the privacy of an individual protected by the Fourth Amendment to the American Constitution.

“Perhaps he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Hayden said. “Just a theory.”

During a press conference in Doral, Florida Wednesday morning, Trump addressed the story that hackers for the Russian government were behind the release of thousands of private emails showing the Democratic National Committee colluded against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the party’s primary elections.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said, addressing the camera. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Leon Panetta, who served as CIA director in the Barack Obama administration, called Trump’s comments “beyond the pale.”

“I find those kinds of statements to be totally outrageous, because you’ve got now a presidential candidate who is, in fact, asking the Russians to engage in American politics,” Panetta told CNN.

William Inboden, a member of the National Security Council during the Bush administration called Trump’s comments “tantamount to treason,” according to Politico.

“Trump’s appeal for a foreign government hostile to the United States to manipulate our electoral process is not an assault on Hillary Clinton, it is an assault on the Constitution,” Inboden said.

Trump’s comments are “just one more example of the reckless and dangerous comments that Donald Trump makes that compromises American foreign policy objectives,” Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Politico.

Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said, “The United States should not tolerate Russian meddling in November’s election. Period.”

“Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug” that should stay out of the U.S. election, an aide to House Speaker Paul Ryan added.

But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump adviser, was in the camp that said Trump was simply making a joke and that the media was focusing too much on the comment.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller argued that his boss never asked Russia to hack into Clinton’s email, but was saying that if it has already done so, it should turn the emails over to the FBI.

IMAGE: Former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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