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Clinton adviser Podesta connects Trump campaign to WikiLeaks

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, second from right, pauses while speaking with senior aide Huma Abedin aboard Clinton’s campaign plane while traveling to Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, for a rally.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. >> A top adviser to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday accused a longtime Donald Trump aide of receiving “advance warning” about WikiLeaks’ plans to publish thousands of hacked emails and suggested the Republican candidate is aiding the unprecedented Russian interference in American politics.

Clinton adviser John Podesta pointed the finger at Trump adviser Roger Stone, who he said has been in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Podesta also raised as evidence an August tweet in which Stone said Podesta’s “time in the barrel” was coming. The tweet was sent shortly after WikiLeaks published scores of hacked emails from other Democratic officials.

“I think it’s a reasonable assumption, or at least a reasonable conclusion, that Mr. Stone and the Trump campaign had advance warning about what Assange was going to do,” Podesta told reporters aboard the Clinton campaign plane. Podesta acknowledged the evidence was “circumstantial.”

Stone, in an email to The Associated Press late Tuesday, called Podesta’s assertion “categorically false” and “without foundation.”

Podesta confirmed that the FBI is investigating the hack of his private email account as part of the ongoing probe in other Democratic Party hackings by groups with Russian ties. Last week, intelligence officials said they believe the individuals responsible are working for Russian intelligence and coordinating with Assange on the political hacking.

Podesta said Russia’s actions may be driven by Trump’s policy positions, which he said are more in line with Russian foreign policy than U.S. foreign policy. But he also suggested the driving force could be “Mr. Trump’s deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs.”

Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak dismissed the accusations as untrue.

“We are watching very carefully the election campaign in this country,” Kislyak said Tuesday at a discussion of bilateral affairs at Johns Hopkins University’s campus in Washington. “We don’t interfere (in) the internal affairs of the United States, neither by my statements nor by electronic or other means.”

Clinton has repeatedly accused her opponent as being soft on Russia, pointing to his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader, his suggestion that he would rethink sanctions against Russian officials, his sharp criticism of NATO and other policy positions.

While Podesta didn’t directly accuse Trump of assisting with Russia’s meddling with American campaigns, he suggested Trump was either “willfully ignoring” intelligence officials’ warnings about Russian government involvement or “an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”

The Clinton campaign would not confirm the authenticity of Podesta’s leaked emails, noting that Russian hackers often fabricate documents.

“The pattern is they hack, they leak truthful things, and then they build up to leaking documents that are either doctored or wholly fabricated,” said Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director.

Trump seized on the hacked emails at a rally Tuesday night in Florida, alleging the documents show that “Clinton is the vessel (of) a corrupt global establishment that’s raiding our country and surrounding the sovereignty of our nation.”

Also citing WikiLeaks, Trump said: “The Department of Justice fed information to the Clinton campaign about the email investigation so that the campaign could be prepared to cover up for her crimes. What is going on?”

In May 2015, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon alerted staffers that the Justice Department was proposing to publish Clinton’s work-related emails by January in response to requests by news organizations. Fallon, a former Justice Department spokesman, wrote that unspecified “DOJ folks” told him there was a court hearing planned soon in the case.

The dates of court hearings would have been publicly posted in advance on the court’s docket. Fallon did not respond to a request for comment from AP. The Justice Department declined to discuss Fallon’s email.

Still, Trump said, “This is collusion and corruption of the highest order and is one more reason why l will ask my attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor,” following up on his debate threat to put Clinton in jail.

WikiLeaks dropped the first batch of Podesta’s emails shortly after news organizations released a video in which Trump is heard making sexually predatory comments about women. That video has deeply damaged Trump’s campaign, leading several Republicans to revoke their support for the businessman.

Podesta said Tuesday the timing of his emails’ release was an “awfully curious coincidence.”

“Mr. Assange wanted to change the subject,” Podesta said. “He didn’t succeed in doing that.”

23 responses to “Clinton adviser Podesta connects Trump campaign to WikiLeaks”

  1. Ronin006 says:

    The story’s title says “Clinton adviser Podesta connects Trump campaign to WikiLeaks.” That is about as much as many people will read before concluding it is fact. They will never get to the part of the story that says the evidence is “circumstantial” and will go on believing that Trump is in cahoots with WikiLeaks, Russian hackers and whoever. The so-called reporter who wrote the story apparently thought it was ok to omit “allegedly” from the story’s title. Biased? Of course not, just an honest omission.

    • sarge22 says:

      The unseen government behind the curtain represents the Deep State. This hybrid association of key players from Wall Street, Silicon Valley, mega-corporations, the corporate media, Madison Avenue, the Federal Reserve, shadowy billionaires, and bought off politician hacks, effectively governs the United States with little or no consent of the governed. It’s they who pull the wires directing the public mind. It’s they who choose your leaders. It’s they who reap the economic benefits of financial, trade, and tax legislation.

    • opihi123 says:

      Why no story about the very serious issues these emails bring up… even if they are just ‘allegations’.. Clinton is the most corrupt candidate for president in the history of the United States.. Instead the SA gives a mike to the corrupt campaign chairman and writes a biased headline..

  2. justmyview371 says:

    Just accuse him of everything. Win at all costs.

    • keaukaha says:

      All he has to do is release his tax returns clear up all the assumptions. It’s as easy as that.

      • deepdiver311 says:

        why should he? if he did something illegal the irs and the doj would put him in jail.
        how about clinton release the 33,000 emails?

      • lespark says:

        Keaukaha, you always had problems with math. 2+2 = Clinton Corruption. You Democrats believe anything Crooked Hilliary dishes out, hook, line and sinker.

      • Keonigohan says:

        keaukaha…welcome to the club…

        There is serious fallout from the newly leaked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta.

        Podesta was once President Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff and then a counselor to President Barack Obama, and is now one of the most influential lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

        Now, we see in an email from Podesta that Hillary Clinton hates “everyday Americans.” Podesta mentioned this in an email exchange with Jen Palmieri, Clinton’s campaign director of communications. They were debating how the phrase should be used in a New Hampshire speech in April 2015.

        Read more: http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/wikileaks-reveals-two-words-hillary-clinton-hates-anything/#ixzz4MtQWrQ9q

        • MillionMonkeys says:

          I read the same article and now offer help for the undereducated:

          1) The email relates to the Clinton campaign team discussing what terms to use. Should they refer to voters as “American people,” “regular citizens,” “mainstream voters,” etc.

          2) Clinton didn’t like the “Everyday American” term, or actually hated the term. So I assume they went with another term in her speeches.

          3) She loves her Americans. Sometimes, because she is a millionaire, she can’t relate to them well. But she can always relate to people better than that pretend billionaire Trump.

          4) Get a clue!!!

        • Keonigohan says:

          MillionMonkeys aka Knuckledragger..you were labled as “ignorant” by your own hiLIARy…you need to wake up.

  3. Ronin006 says:

    We do not yet know who hacked the information being released by WikiLeaks, but we owe them our gratitude for exposing Clinton’s corruption and the corruption of the Democratic Party, the Clinton Campaign, the Clinton Foundation, the US Department of Justice and the Obama administration in general. Trump misspoke when he said he will ask his Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to put Hillary in jail. One special prosecutor can’t handle it. He should have said he will order his AG to appoint as many as necessary to put Hillary and her coconspirators in jail.

  4. st1d says:

    you mean podesta, board member or joule unlimited, that pocketed more than $35 million from putin and didn’t report it.

    podesta, the campaign manager of the female felon who as secretary of state led the charge for approval to get the u.s. to partner with skolkovo, the russian tech company that the f.b.i. warned was a front for soviet hackers trying to hack into u.s. military computers?

    that podesta?

    that female felon?

  5. Tita Girl says:

    John Podesta, The WHOLE WORLD has been given “advance warning” of Wikileaks October surprise. So, heads up….more will follow.
    During the first debate, Sec. Clinton said: “Maybe he doesn’t want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he’s paid nothing in federal taxes,…” Then on Oct.1, the NYT released Trump’s 1995 tax returns. Did the Clinton team have “advance warning?”
    Revealing shenanigans on both sides is fair game. It helps people make their choice. Both sides shouldn’t be whining about their secrets being out in the open. That’s politics.

  6. deepdiver311 says:

    all these email leaks shows that the democrats, cnn, nbc, nyt, wapo and other media outlets are in the same room leaking information and scheming to promote their cause.
    right now the cause is the destruction of trump because he poses a threat to their ideology.
    these people are now exposed and they need to be put out of business. it is coming down to main stream media vs social media.
    social media will win. they must if we are to save the usa

  7. Keonigohan says:

    Drip…Drip…Drip….the toilet bowl is much to small…need a swimming pool….

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