John Podesta suggests Trump camp had warning of WikiLeaks hack
Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, said Tuesday that there was a “reasonable” chance Trump’s campaign had “advanced warning” about the latest Wikileaks hack that exposed thousands of Podesta’s emails.
Podesta told confirmed to reporters aboard the campaign plane Tuesday night that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is “investigating a criminal hack” of his emails. The first batch posted last Friday and another round were posted Tuesday; Podesta said the campaign “can’t confirm the accuracy” of the leaked emails.
He said Trump ally Roger Stone made it clear this summer that he was in touch with Wikileaks’ Julian Assange and even tweeted this summer that Podesta should be concerned about forthcoming information.
“A couple of months ago, Roger Stone confirmed that he was in touch with Julian Assange,” he said. “Around the same time, Stone pointed his finger at me and said that I could expect some treatment that would expose me and ultimately sent out a tweet that said it would be my time in the barrel.”
Podesta was referring to this tweet of Stone’s, which was sent out in August:
Trust me, it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel. #CrookedHillary
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) August 21, 2016
“So I think it’s a reasonable assumption to -- or at least a reasonable conclusion -- that Mr. Stone had advanced warning and the Trump campaign had advanced warning about what Assange was going to do,” Podesta said.
He added that the leaks, which are widely believed to be the work of Russian hackers looking to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, should be “of the utmost concern” to people across the political spectrum.
Asked how it felt to have thousands of his own emails being picked over in public, Podesta said it “doesn’t feel great.”
Still, he added: “I’m kind of zen about it at this stage.”
CBS News’ Hannah Fraser-Chanpong contributed to this report