In a extraordinary moment Wednesday morning, Donald Trump appeared to ask for Russia's help in tracking down Hillary Clinton's missing State Department emails. Michael Scotto filed the following report.

Even for this race, it was a particularly stunning comment: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump saying he hopes the Russian government hacked Hillary Clinton's emails while she was secretary of state.

"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said.

The comment came as U.S. officials were looking into claims that Russian intelligence agencies hacked into computer servers at the Democratic National Committee in an effort to influence the presidential race.

The Clinton campaign quickly fired back at Trump for suggesting that Russia spy on Clinton's own emails, saying, "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. That's not hyperbole, those are just the facts. This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue."

Trump and his team later took to Twitter looking to clarify the remarks. A spokesperson said Trump didn't call on anyone to hack Clinton's emails, and Trump tweeted:

At the same time, Trump refused to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay out of the election.

"I'm not gonna tell Putin what to do. Why should I tell Putin what to do?" Trump said.

In a statement, his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, seemed to take a different view, saying, "The FBI will get to the bottom of who is behind the hacking. If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences."

Trump has long spoken highly of Putin. On Wednesday, he said if elected, he hoped he and Putin would get along.