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Trump blasts Clinton, Department of Justice over leaked emails

Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton over private emails leaked by WikiLeaks Tuesday, accusing the former secretary of state of dishonesty and suggesting - without evidence - that the Department of Justice colluded with her as it investigated her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton over private emails leaked by WikiLeaks Tuesday, accusing the former secretary of state of dishonesty and suggesting - without evidence - that the Department of Justice colluded with her as it investigated her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

Trump said that the Department of Justice had colluded with the Clinton campaign during the FBI's criminal investigation into her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, citing campaign emails recently leaked by WikiLeaks that he said showed the DOJ "fed information to the Clinton campaign about the email investigation."

"This is collusion and corruption of the highest order and is one more reason I will ask my attorney general - I will ask - to appoint a special prosecutor," he told a crowd of about 7,000 cheering supporters. "We have to investigate Hillary Clinton and we have to investigate the investigation. This was a disgrace. This was a disgrace."

The emails did not suggest collusion on the criminal case, though the Trump campaign repeated that claim several times Tuesday. In the specific email in question, sent on May 19, 2015, by Clinton spokesperson Brian Fallon did not refer to the criminal investigation into the email server. Rather, it centered on hearing information on litigation over a Freedom of Information Act request into her emails. That information would be a public record.

"DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judge's thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today," Fallon wrote other campaign aides.

Trump blasted Clinton nonetheless and echoed his promise to appoint a "special prosecutor" to look into the email server.

Trump also accused Clinton of wanting a "world government" and knocked her for supporting "open borders and open trade," pointing to leaked copies of transcripts to closed-door speeches she delivered to private banks after leaving the state department.

"These WikiLeaks emails confirm what those of us here today have known all along: Hillary Clinton is the vessel for a corrupt global establishment that is raiding our country and surrendering our sovereignty," Trump said.

Trump also tore into interim Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile, who was shown in one email giving the Clinton campaign advice on answering a tricky question about the death penalty that may come up in the future. Brazile was a CNN contributor at the time and the email was one day before a CNN-TV One town hall at Ohio State University.

Trump said that Brazile gave Clinton an advanced debate question, suggested by the email subject line," "From time to time I get the questions in advance."

Brazile in a statement Tuesday said she "never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did."

"Do you think that's fair to Bernie? Really, aren't we starting to feel sorry for Bernie Sanders? A little bit," Trump said.