Trump says WikiLeaks email shows collusion between Clinton, DOJ
Story highlights
- A hacked email shows a Clinton campaign staffer saying he heard of a court hearing from “DOJ folks”
- That hearing was public information and reported on by numerous mainstream media outlets
- WikiLeaks is posting thousands of emails hacked from Clinton campaign leader John Podesta
In an email on May 19, 2015, Fallon advised of upcoming action in a civil lawsuit by Vice News reporter Jason Leopold that resulted in the State Department releasing tens of thousands of Clinton’s emails.
“DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judge’s thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today,” Fallon, a former Justice Department spokesman, wrote.
The hearing Fallon was referring to was publicly available information and covered extensively at the time by CNN, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Vice, National Journal and The Hill, among others.
The exchange is included in the third batch of emails that appear to be hacked from Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and posted by WikiLeaks. The Clinton campaign has never formally verified the authenticity of the emails, the first of which were released Friday. WikiLeaks claims to have 50,000 emails hacked from Podesta and has thus far released roughly 5,300.
Trump’s campaign framed the email as evidence of collusion between the Clinton campaign and President Barack Obama’s Justice Department. Although Fallon’s mention of the Justice Department was in relation to the FOIA civil lawsuit, Trump’s campaign pointed to the larger investigation of Clinton’s private server.
“Today’s report that Clinton’s campaign was in communication with the Obama Department of Justice on the email investigation shows a level of collusion which calls into question the entire investigation into her private server,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement Tuesday.
In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Trump wrote, “I hope people are looking at the disgraceful behavior of Hillary Clinton as exposed by WikiLeaks. She is unfit to run.” He did not mention any specific allegation or hacked email or allegation.
The most significant news from the emails posted came Friday, when WikiLeaks posted what appeared to be excerpts from transcripts of speeches Clinton gave to Wall Street companies after leaving the State Department.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday that he would not comment directly on “stolen emails of a private citizen” when questioned about an email showing the Clinton campaign was in touch with the Justice Department.
“I will say in general is both the attorney general and the FBI director have made clear the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server was conducted without regard to partisan politics,” Earnest said.
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday on Fallon’s email. But Fallon, in a string of tweets Monday night, accused WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange of coordinating the releases with the Russian government and the Trump campaign.
“.@wikileaks You are no media organization. You are a propaganda arm of the Russian govt, running interference for their pet candidate, Trump,” Fallon wrote.
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