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29 Oct, 2016 12:57

'Bill & Hillary have the worst judgement': Close adviser slams Clintons in latest Podesta leaks

'Bill & Hillary have the worst judgement': Close adviser slams Clintons in latest Podesta leaks

WikiLeaks has released the 22nd batch of emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta.

To date, the whistleblowing site has released 36,190 emails, with around another 14,000 expected before Americans go to the polls on the November 8.

It was revealed in mails released on Friday that Podesta had been warned in March 2016 to change his email password “immediately” as someone had illegitimately attempted to gain access to his account.

In another email from March 2015, on the same day that the right-wing Likud Party, led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, won a surprise victory in national elections, Clinton adviser Neera Tanden told Podesta that “Israel is depressing.”

READ MORE: 'Israel is depressing': Clinton adviser vents frustration in latest Podesta emails

The worst judgement

In an email to Podesta in February 2015 titled ‘Brock/Bonner,’ Clinton adviser Neera Tanden includes a link to a Washington Post article about donors delaying their pledges to pro-Clinton Super PACs until she announces her White House bid.

Although not mentioned in the article by name, Tanden describes major donors David Brock and Mary Pat Bonner as “a nightmare.”

“I'll be telling mary pat later this week that we aren't renewing her contract - wish me luck,” Tanden adds.

Referencing the article, Tanden also says that sometimes Bill and Hillary Clinton, “have the worst judgement.”

Her candidacy was just not meant to be

A September 2015 email from Hill columnist Brent Budowsky expresses his frustration at Clinton’s speech at a rally in Ohio during which she says she's "guilty" of being "kinda moderate and center."

Budowsky features heavily in the Podesta emails, offering advice and working to help the Clinton campaign, but this particular statement from Clinton shocks him. “I tripled fact-checked when I saw this reported on cable because I could not believe my eyes or ears,” he says.

Budowsky worries she will come off as insincere, given her previous statement which she feels could be seen as “insincere tilting left to be followed by a triangulating counter-tilt back the other way.”

“I must tell you, John, when I see things like this, there are moments when I think her candidacy was just not meant to be,” Budowsky says. “I went out on a limb for her today, which very few Democrats who are not paid by her have done recently as visibly and strongly as I did today, and if I knew this kind of thing was coming I would never have done it in a million years.”

Obama's Citigroup options

In a October 2008 email, Citigroup executive Michael Froman emails Obama to discuss diversity in his cabinet, should he be elected president.

Attached to the email is a “list of African American, Latino and Asian American candidates, divided between Cabinet/Deputy and Under/Assistant/Deputy Assistant Secretary levels, as well as lists of senior Native Americans, Arab/Muslim Americans and Disabled Americans.”

A second list of women is also included. Peter Rouse, who would become Obama’s counselor and chief of staff, replies in agreement. “This should be a global decision-making process,” Rouse says.

READ MORE:WikiLeaks emails shows Citigroup’s major role in shaping Obama administration’s cabinet

Previous leaked Podesta emails revealed the extent of Citigroup’s influence in choosing Obama’s cabinet. The Citigroup executives were given an “outsized role in shaping and staffing his first term.”

Turkish donations

In August 2015, Podesta forwards an email to finance director Dennis Cheng from Michael Werz from the Center for American Progress.

Werz alerts them of Turkish fundraisers donating to the campaign on behalf of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Seems Erdogan faction is making substantial investments in U.S. to counter opposition (CHP, Kurds, Gulenists etc.) outreach to policymakers and USG [United States Government],” he says. “The Erdogan crew also tries to make inroads via donations to Democratic candidates, including yours. Two names that you should be aware of are *Mehmet Celebi* and *Ali Cinar*.”

A CNN source

CNN's potential impartiality is also exposed through an exchange. Despite maintaining that it’s impartial, an email chain from February 2015 shows Joel Benenson, the chief strategist for the Clinton campaign, forwarding an email from a “CNN source of mine” to a number of campaign staff.

“I think you are going to enjoy a poll we have releasing tomorrow morning,” writes the unnamed CNN source before adding that the poll “asks about 2016ers and whether they are perceived as candidates of the past or candidates of the future.”

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