For the 27th time, Wikileaks has released hacked emails from a top aide to Hillary Clinton, as Republicans have repeatedly seized on those internal missives to raise questions about actions of the Clinton Campaign. Will there be more in what's come out today?
Here's some of what we have learned:
1. Clinton campaign friends in high places. As I detailed yesterday, a friend of John Podesta's at the Justice Department - an Assistant Attorney General - gave a 'heads up' to Podesta about a Congressional hearing that might touch on the email server issue when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. You don't have to dig far in the Podesta emails to find the son of Peter Kadzik, P.J. Kadzik, asking if he can get a job with the Clinton campaign. I know this type of thing will be taken by many as proof of a conspiracy, but this is one of the oldest ways to get ahead in Washington, D.C., demonstrate that you've got some smarts, and then capitalize on who your parents know. Or as some call it - networking.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
2. Podesta's emails are like being on Facebook or Twitter. Reading through some of these emails is like watching Democrats or Republicans who exchange snarky messages about the other party. They love their little cartoons, and memes and partisan internet jokes. They can't get enough of the other side supposedly doing stupid things or coming up with ways to make fun of the other party. It's like your Aunt or Uncle or cousin who won't stop sending you the latest conspiracy theory email about the President or Clinton or Trump. And the internet makes it that much easier for everyone to send their partisan jokes and jabs around - like this one to Podesta about the GOP.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
3. It takes a committee to make a Tweet. One thing has been consistently interesting is the number of people it takes within the Clinton organization to develop and approve Tweets from the campaign. Those of you on Twitter might just think about how you tweet something - you think about it, type it and send it out. But with Team Clinton, there is a certain amount of bureaucracy involved that would drive this reporter insane. Here's one exchange about tweets dealing with climate change. "Sending over a few edits."
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
4. Trump fully on board with Wikileaks. Not a day goes by without Donald Trump fitting something from Wikileaks into his stump speech, though Trump at times takes a somewhat liberal interpretation of the Podesta emails - but hey, that's politics. For Trump, Wikileaks is confirmation of one of his biggest applause lines, that the system is rigged, that too many people in high places know each other, and work together, against the interests of average Americans. "Through Wikileaks, it's just been shown - as I've been saying - that this is a rigged system, possibly illegal," Trump said in Florida on Wednesday.
5. Where is the big Wikileaks release? If you play poker, then you know about bluffing. Wikileaks has been talking big for weeks about stuff that will get revealed right before the election. Yes, the Podesta emails have brought forth a lot of little things, but no giant bombshells as of yet. There's still a few days left, but the talk of some that they would reveal Clinton's missing emails from her home server and more seems like it may not pan out.
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