'She created this mess': Clinton aide reveals concerns in #PodestaEmails13

WikiLeaks has released yet another batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta. This is the 13th time the whistleblowing site has released such communications from his account.

This brings the total number of emails leaked to more than 23,000.

WikiLeaks has said there are around 50,000 emails to be released in total and that this will be completed before the presidential election is held on November 8.

Previous releases have included damning examples of collusion between the campaign and the media, disparaging comments about former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, among others, and copies of speeches given to Wall Street bankers, including Goldman Sachs.

She created this mess 

An email from Clinton aide Huma Abedin to Robby Mook and Podesta from January 2015 discussed Morocco donating to the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to get access to Clinton.

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“Just to give you some context, the condition upon which the Moroccans agreed to host the meeting was her participation,” says Abedin. “If hrc was not part of it, meeting was a non-starter.”

Clinton had announced the meeting in 2014. Abedin says the meeting had been Clinton’s idea.

“Our office approached the Moroccans and they 100 percent believe they are doing this at her request,” Abedin continues. “The King has personally committed approx $12 million both for the endowment and to support the meeting.”

A politico report from April 2015 reveals Clinton had been scheduled to attend a Clinton Global Initiative Middle East and Africa Meeting in May, but that a Foundation official told Politico it was unlikely she would attend.

Clinton’s State Department accused Morocco of “arbitrary arrests and corruption” in 2011.

“She created this mess and she knows it,” Abedin adds.

Reluctant to go there

An email chain from October 2015 between Podesta and Clinton supporter and ad agency owner Roy Spence discussed how the Clinton servers scandal should be addressed.

Spence writes, “As we try and close the Benghazi Chapter and the email drip drip. Is there ever a moment in time not to defend the decision but layout the fact… HRC servers were not hacked.”

Podesta responds that he was “reluctant to go there,” adding that it “makes it seem like she consciously went to the home server for security reasons which would fall apart under scrutiny.” 

The annoying White House

Ann O’Leary, a senior policy adviser to Clinton, sent an email to Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, in October 2015 with a link to a Washington Post article tweeted by journalist Greg Sargent, titled ‘Obama administration has doubts that key Hillary gun proposal can work’.

Tanden asks: “What is the White House doing?”

“Being really annoying,” replies O’Leary.

The Clinton Foundation rabbit holes 

An email chain discussing Bill Clinton’s upcoming interview on NBC in May 2015 dealt with possible questions about the Clinton Foundation.

Palmieri recommended Bill Clinton not engage in “questions related to 1) donors; 2) implementation of the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding]; or 3) HRC's knowledge of donors to the Foundation.”

“These are rabbit holes,” she adds. “Press want us to go deeper into these subjects to try to get us to introduce more facts which will lead to more questions and give the story more life.”

READ MORE: 'What planet is she on?': Clinton adviser mocks Hillary in latest #PodestaEmails

Worst Bill Clinton email

Palmieri mocked Bill Clinton after he sent a mail titled ‘The person I most want to spend time with’ in 2008.

She ridicules the ex-president in a mail to Podesta saying, “seriously? this is the worst subject line ever in an email from Bill Clinton."

In the mail sent after his wife’s failed campaign bid in 2008, Bill asks for a $5 donation to help “retire that pesky campaign debt.” A select number of donors will be selected to dine with “the person I most enjoy” – in reference to Hillary – according to Bill.

Clear the air with the press

A March 2015 email chain discussing Clinton’s upcoming speech at the Turner Prize broke from the trend of cozy media relations revealed in previous Podesta releases. It does, however, reveal a desire within the campaign to "clear the air a bit with the press."

Jennifer Palmieri says, “Let's pretend everyone in the audience is a serious, on the level journalist trying to get the story right,” before detailing how to have Clinton say she appreciates their struggle.

“The press is the most hated profession and they are all losing their jobs to 23 yr old bloggers who make listicles about drinking games at Northwestern. Let's give them an ego boost,” she adds.

Palmieri also makes reference to the New York Times, stating that Clinton should say what “a life-changing revelation it was to her to read the nyt [New York Times] as a young woman.” She then adds, however, that Clinton "now thinks less of them."

More media pointers

The Hill columnist Brent Budowsky regularly volunteers advice to the campaign. He emailed Podesta in September 2015 to share his thoughts about “what Hillary needs to do.”

He advises she market herself as a champion of women, using “equal pay for women as a bannered and candidate-defining issue, discussed visibly everyday.”

Budowsky encourages her to push it in a “dramatized” way and “driven 24/7”.

“I did everything but stage a hunger strike before the midterms to persuade Harry Reid to make this a powerful defining political war-fighting issue,” Budowsky says, referring to the Democratic Nevada senator.

Hitting Sanders

In a March 2016 email thread discussing a New York Daily News op-ed about gun control, Palmieri says, “We also need to be hitting Sanders occasionally so we can credibly say we are not only focused on the general.”

Karen Finney asks: “Are there any NYC moms/stories around gun violence that we could include?”

The canvassing of Bernie Sanders’ wife, Jane, is revealed to be a source of concern to Clinton’s team, in a mail from May 20, 2015 regarding Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin’s endorsement of Clinton over Sanders for the Democratic nomination.

“Apparently Jane Sanders has now called him twice and begged him to change his mind and he's stood firm,” Robbie Mook tells Abedin in the mail. He advises Abedin to contact the governor to express her gratitude. Shumlin went on to officially endorse Clinton on the same day.