Latest from WikiLeaks: Clinton camp's Trump research, a staff party, and more
The leaks don’t seem to be slowing down for Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.
WikiLeaks released its 17th batch of emails stolen from John Podesta’s personal account on Monday, bringing the total number of emails in the leak to 30,235. The group has posted batches of Podesta’s emails nearly daily over the last several weeks.
Here are some highlights from the most recent releases:
December 2015: Miss Universe attack was in the works in late 2015
When Clinton brought up the story of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado at the first presidential debate in September, Trump was stunned: “Where did you find this?” he asked.
Clearly Clinton had done her homework -- but a 157-page research document emailed to Podesta in December 2015 shows the Clinton campaign had found some of Trump’s most damaging quotes about Machado a full nine months before she brought them up at the debate.
On page 31 of the document, emailed to Podesta by research director Tony Carrk, there’s a quote from Trump about Machado: “She weighed 118 pounds, or 117 pounds, and she went up to 160 or 170. So this is somebody that likes to eat.” The quote is included in a section of the report titled, “On Women’s Weight and Appearance … Including His Own Daughter’s.”
The line does not identify Machado by name, and misspells her first name as “Alisa.”
February 2016: Clinton team begins to plan out its Trump attacks
The research book that included the Alicia Machado quotes had more more on Trump, too. In an email to communications director Jennifer Palmieri in February 2016, Clinton ally Joel Johnson asks the campaign when it will begin prepping its attacks on Trump.
“I know you can’t look past Bernie and March primaries -- but who is in charge of the Trump swift boat project?” he wrote. “Needs to be ready, funded and unleashed when we decide -- but not a half assed scramble.”
In reply, Palmieri quipped: “Gee. Thanks, Joel. We thought we could half-ass it. Let’s discuss.”
September 2015: A viral party at Clinton campaign HQ?
As the Democratic primary heated up in fall 2015, Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden suggested to Palmieri -- in an email with the subject line, “Another crazy idea” -- that the campaign should host a party for staffers at its Brooklyn headquarters to “gear up for the fall.”
“I had a thought: Hillary could have a party for the staff in the headquarters,” she wrote. “[I]t’s been a long summer and we need to gear up for the fall, and she can say she’s grateful for everyone’s hard work for her.”
Tanden suggested photos of Clinton herself at the party could go viral online, contributing to the image that Clinton knows how to have fun.
“And if some staff take pictures of her with a beer and letting loose to some music - that end up going viral and eventually on tv - so much the better,” she wrote. “The clubbing she did in Latin America as [Secretary of State] was awesome.”
Palmieri replied: “Grazie for both.”
September 2015: How’s Clinton’s head?
In late September of 2015, Palmieri emailed Podesta asking about Clinton’s head—an issue Clinton conspiracy theorists have seized on as proof that Clinton is hiding bigger health problems. Clinton suffered a concussion in December 2012 after fainting while sick, and later was treated for a resulting blood clot.
“How bad is her head?” she wrote, in an email with the subject line “Any sense of whether and when she wants to talk?”
Podesta replied: “Don’t know.”
