US election 2016: Trump urges Russia to find missing emails
28 July
Donald Trump has called on Russia to uncover 30,000 emails "missing" from Hillary Clinton's private email server.
Addressing a news conference in Florida, Trump said he hoped Kremlin security forces had hacked his Democratic rival's server and asked them to publish anything they may have found.
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"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press," Trump said.
The billionaire businessman later backpedalled on Twitter, calling instead for the country to hand the emails over the FBI.
The comments have drawn widespread criticism for "essentially urging a foreign adversary to conduct cyberespionage against a former secretary of state", the New York Times says.
Russia is already accused of "trying to interfere in the election", The Washington Post reports.
Clinton's foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the presidential candidate "does not view this as a political issue; she views this as a national security issue".
He added: "This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent."
Dr Eliot A Cohen, a prominent Republican and former counsellor at the State Department, described Trump's comments as "appalling".
Cohen recently organised an open letter from senior Republicans that said Trump would "use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world".
US election 2016: Why Vladimir Putin backs Donald Trump
27 July
The Kremlin has dismissed allegations that its intelligence agencies hacked emails from the US Democratic Party, saying the claim is a cynical attempt to exploit fear of Russia for electoral purposes.
The release of more than 20,000 messages from Democratic National Committee servers, which revealed that senior Democrats tried to ensure Hillary Clinton became the party's next candidate for the White House, has caused huge controversy in the US.
The emails showed some staffers "were working to discredit her former rival, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, when he was also running for president", says The Independent.
The FBI is planning to investigate foreign involvement in the hack after researchers concluded the breach was carried out by at least "two Russian intelligence agencies".
Regardless of where it originated, the hack has been extremely damaging for Clinton. While the true culprits "may never be conclusively proven", there is plenty of evidence suggesting her Republican rival, Donald Trump, "can count on at least some backing from Moscow", says Julian Borger in The Guardian.
Putin hails Trump as 'talented'
Officially neutral, Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed Trump as a "very talented" leader. Russian state TV, which cleaves closely to the Kremlin's world view, "has left little doubt" Moscow would prefer a Trump presidency, repeatedly casting Clinton as a "warmonger", says CNBC.
In turn, the New York property tycoon has called Putin a "strong leader", spoken of wanting to reform the US relationship with Russia and suggested he might abandon the Nato pledge to automatically defend all alliance members.
Experts say this would be a worrying development for Baltic and Eastern European states which fear further Russian aggression.
Last December, one of Trump's top foreign policy advisers and potential running mates, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, had dinner with Putin while this week, Trump hinted that, if elected, he would consider an alliance with Russia against Islamic State militants.
"It was concerning last week that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian," said Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Hook.
On a personal level, Trump has "historically relied on Russian money for financing his property deals – a fact admitted by one of his sons, Donald Jr", while Moscow "has a long track record of backing right-wing mavericks in Europe, from Marine Le Pen in France to Italy's Silvio Berlusconi", says the Guardian.
Two of Trump's closest advisers also have close ties to the Kremlin. His campaign chair, Paul Manafort, worked as an adviser to former Ukrainian president and Putin ally Viktor Yanukovych, while Carter Page, Tump's foreign policy adviser, has a long history of financial ties to the Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Trump has "rejected any suggestion Putin might be trying to help him win", says the Daily Mail, and called the allegations "one of the weirdest conspiracy theories" he had ever heard.
Why Donald Trump's dark convention speech was 'dangerously good'
22 July
Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination last night vowing to end crime and violence in the United States - but it was his "well-crafted demagoguery" that struck most commentators.
Speaking for more than an hour at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Trump used "dark imagery and an almost angry tone" to portray the US as a "diminished and even humiliated nation", says the New York Times.
Outlining his plans to "put America first", the White House hopeful "offered himself as an all-powerful saviour who could resurrect the country's standing in the eyes of both enemies and law-abiding Americans", adds the newspaper.
Trump again promised to build a "great border wall" to stop illegal immigration, pledged to end trade deals that had "destroyed" the middle class and to put "Americanism, not globalism" at the centre of his foreign policy.
"The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon, and I mean very soon, come to an end. Beginning on January 20 of 2017, safety will be restored," he said, citing attacks on US police, terrorist attacks on US cities, increased immigration, and an increase in homicides.
"Law and order has become a big theme for Trump in recent weeks, particularly since the killings of five police officers in Dallas," says NPR.
However, it adds, policing, public safety and the vast majority of the criminal justice apparatus are actually controlled by state and local authorities, not the federal government.
Others also questioned the crime figures Trump quoted.
Last night's speech invoked "a nightmarish American hellscape that doesn't actually exist", says Ezra Klein at Vox, adding that for the first time since he began covering US politics, he is "genuinely afraid" – not of crime and immigration, but of having "a narcissist, a bully, and a dilettante" running for president.
Slate's chief political correspondent Jamelle Bouie says the message was indeed "clear and terrifying" and that the Republican Party is now "a party of overt white nationalism".
Trump's speech was "dangerously good", adds The Economist, "carefully, even at times brilliantly constructed, bearing the hallmark of skilled writers and well-honed legal minds who captured the essence of Trumpism".
Hillary Clinton should "fear a Donald Trump whose demagoguery is so well-crafted" and the "world should fear this man who sells himself as a new Caesar", it adds.
Trump says that as President he would not automatically defend Nato allies against Russia
21 July
Donald Trump has sparked global outrage, yet again, after suggesting that he would not guarantee to protect Nato allies from Russian aggression if he became president.
In an interview with the New York Times, the Republican nominee said the US would only come to the aid of allies if they had "fulfilled their obligations to us".
His position directly opposes the legally binding treaty signed by all 28 Nato members, where nations agree to come to the defence of any member under attack. It hits at the "fundamental basis" of the Atlantic alliance; that an attack on one ally is an attack on all, says the BBC's Jonathan Marcus.
The Republican's comments are expected to "send a chill" through Baltic members of Nato, like Estonia and Latvia, which have witnessed growing Russian aggression on their borders, says Buzzfeed News.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves responded to Trump's remarks by reminding the presidential hopeful that Estonia was one of just five countries to meet Nato's defence spending requirements and had committed troops to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Hillary Clinton was also quick to condemn Trump, saying that it is now "fair to assume" that Vladimir Putin is rooting for a Trump presidency. "Republicans, Democrats and Independents who help build Nato into the most successful military alliance in history would all come to the same conclusion: Trump is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally ill-prepared to be our Commander in Chief," she said.
Journalists and analysts from across the political spectrum have reacted with "horror and disbelief" to the billionaire's comments, according to the media watchdog Media Matters for America.
Trump also went on to comment on the failed coup in Turkey, saying he would not criticise Turkey or other authoritarian regimes in the alliance for purging political dissidents or attacking civil liberties. "I don't think we have the right to lecture," he told the NYT.
'Never Trump' movement fails to change rules at GOP convention
19 July
Republicans who oppose Donald Trump's nomination as their presidential candidate have failed in their attempt to challenge party rules at the GOP national convention in Ohio.
Anti-Trump delegates brought the event to a stand-still with petitions from nine states demanding a roll-call vote on the convention rules.
"Trump's four-day coronation as the party candidate degenerated into chaos as rival factions shouted and jeered, attempting to drown one another out," The Guardian reports.
The "Never Trump" activists wanted to overturn a provision binding states to the candidate backed by voters. With that rule in place, Trump will easily reach the required total of delegates to continue his fight for the White House; removing the provision would have left the states free to cast their votes for whomsoever they wished.
However, lobbying from pro-Trump delegates was enough to get three states to back down, bringing the number below the seven required to force a formal vote.
"While it's clear that the eventual adoption of the pro-Trump rules was never really in doubt, a roll-call vote would have been an embarrassing show of dissent from the delegates - something Trump's team wanted to avoid at all costs," the BBC says.
Several senior figures walked out of the conference in protest when the motion was defeated.
"Ken Cuccinelli, a Virginia politician who had been an active [Ted] Cruz supporter during earlier pre-convention meetings, dramatically threw his delegate badge on the floor and stormed out," the BBC says.
The motion reveals the deep divide that remains within the GOP over Trump's nomination. Several high-profile Republicans, including former presidents George W Bush and George HW Bush and previous White House candidates Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, have stayed away from the convention.
Donald Trump: Will Republican National Convention turn nasty?
18 July
Donald Trump's coronation as the Republican candidate for the US presidency promises to bring chaos, showbiz and an air of hostility to the party's national convention in Cleveland, which opens today.
What is Trump up to?
US political conventions are, in essence, "enormous television extravaganzas devoted to a single purpose - building the nominee up to heroic proportions and tearing down the opposition", says the LA Times.
However, Trump described the 2012 convention, in which Mitt Romney accepted the party's nomination, as "the single most boring convention I've ever seen".
"It's very important to put some showbiz into a convention, otherwise people are going to fall asleep," he said.
The New York property magnate has promised this year's event will be "amazing", says the Sunday Times, as he stages "what amounts to a hostile takeover of the Grand Old Party".
There are reports he has been micro-managing the event and has fallen out with organisers over the size and shape of the stage. While conventions are normally meticulously planned and co-ordinated, Trump did not finalise the official programme until last week.
Who will attend?
More than 50,000 people are expected, but many top Republicans have vowed to stay away, including Romney, John McCain, the 2008 nominee, and former presidents George W and George HW Bush.
Senator Marco Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich, both of whom lost to Trump in the primaries, are also refusing to attend, while Republican celebrities including Clint Eastwood, Vince Vaughn, Dean Cain and Jon Voight have all cited prior commitments.
One figure who is scheduled to speak, however, is former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who has been praised by Trump for his role in taking Britain out of the EU.
Could it turn nasty?
Following Trump's incendiary remarks during the primary campaign, during which he described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals and vowed to ban Muslims from entering the country, "the threat of violence" hangs over the convention, says the Sunday Times.
"The far-left agitators in Cleveland will make the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago [when 10,000 demonstrators clashed with 23,000 troops] look like a fourth-grade slap fight," said one Ohio Republican.
Security has been stepped up following the recent shootings in Dallas, as white nationalists, extreme Christian groups and agitators from the New Black Panther party have promised to protest at the event, some carrying guns.
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