Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager had no idea how problematic her use of a private server while leading the State Department would be, according to hacked emails released by WikiLeaks.
When The New York Times reported on Clinton’s use of a personal email account in July 2015, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, emailed Robby Mook, her campaign manger: “Did you have any idea of the depth of this story?”
Mook said he had not, telling Podesta the campaign was “told that everything was taken care of.”
Controversy over Clinton’s use of the server, including an FBI investigation that concluded there was no basis for prosecution, has dogged the campaign since the news broke. Donald Trump has used it as an example of corruption in Washington and it has contributed to voters’ concerns over Clinton’s trustworthiness.
The hacked emails also show Neera Tanden, a longtime loyalist, wanted a scapegoat.
“Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a private email?” asked Tanden, president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, in an email sent last July. “And has that person been drawn and quartered?”
“Like whole thing is f—ing insane,” she added.
Neither the Clinton campaign nor Tanden responded to a CNN request for comment.
Tanden, an aide under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama who is widely expected to play a major role in a potential Hillary Clinton administration, is a fixture in the thousands of emails stolen from the private account of Podesta.
The July 2015 correspondence with Podesta was a characteristically unguarded moment from Tanden, one of many revealed in the ongoing release of hacked emails by WikiLeaks. The Clinton campaign has refused to confirm or deny the authenticity of the emails, instead focusing on intelligence reports blaming the data breach on the Russian government.
Clinton has asserted that the emails are an effort by Vladimir Putin to tilt the election in favor of Trump, a charge denied by both the Russian government and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Whatever the motives, the emails show how the former secretary of state’s use of a private server bedeviled her vast team of advisers and surrogates. On March 2, 2015, the day The New York Times first reported Clinton’s use of a personal email account at the State Department, Tanden emailed Podesta to suggest “(s)he start making some other, more positive news soon.”
“Really?” replied Podesta sarcastically. “That’s great advice.”
In a subsequent email on the same thread, Podesta complained that Clinton confidants Philippe Reines, Cheryl Mills and David Kendall “sure weren’t forthcoming on the facts here.”
“Why didn’t they get this stuff out like 18 months ago?” Tanden said in her reply. “So crazy.”
“I guess I know the answer,” she said later. “They wanted to get away with it.”