Trump slams 'desperate' claims that Russia hacked DNC emails for him

Donald Trump on Monday dismissed as a "joke"claims by Hillary Clinton's campaign that Russia is trying tohelpTrump by leaking thousands of emails from the Democratic NationalCommittee.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta added fuel to the debate Monday, saying there was "a kind of bromance going on" between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump. The Clinton campaign says Russia favours Trump's views, especially on NATO.

"The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNCemails, which should have never been written (stupid), because Putinlikes me," Trump wrote as part of a series of Tweets.

Wikileaks posted emails Friday that suggested the DNC wasfavouring Clinton over her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders during theprimary season, enraging die-hard Sanders supporters who have longclaimed that the DNC had its finger on the scale throughout theprimaries.

The disclosures prompted the resignation of DNCchairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of the party'sconvention in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to officiallyaccept the nomination for president.

How the emails were stolen hasn't been confirmed. The FBI said they are investigating.

'Pretty desperate'

Clinton's campaign stood firmly behind their claims of Russian involvement Monday.

"There is a consensus among experts that it is indeed Russia that is behind this hack of the DNC," Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN.

CrowdStrike Inc., a cybersecurity firm, said last month that the DNC asked it to investigate a suspected breach of its systems that began as early as last summer.

CrowdStrike said it quickly found traces of two of the best adversaries in the hacking arena, both tied to the Russian government.

On Sunday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said that it was "concerning last week that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian."

Trump's senior policy adviser Paul Manafort called statements by the Clinton campaign "pretty desperate."

"It's a far reach, obviously," Manafort told reporters. "To lead their convention with that tells me they really are trying to move away from what the issues are going to be in this campaign. It's pretty absurd."

Trump told the New York Times last week that he would decide whether to protect America's NATO allies against Russian aggression based on whether those countries "have fulfilled their obligations to us," hinting that he might pivot away from the decades-old agreement.