For those in need of a weekend read, WikiLeaks released the 30th batch of Podesta emails Friday afternoon, just four days out from the presidential election.
This the second release of the day, leaving slightly more than 2,000 of the promised 50,000 Podesta emails not yet published.
"We give governments information"
Included in WikiLeaks’ 30th release of Podesta Emails was a message sent Sunday, December 20, 2015, by Lisa Jackson. She is vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives for Apple and reports directly to CEO Tim Cook.
Jackson first thanked Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign manager John Podesta for “the principled and nuanced stance the Secretary took last night on encryption and the tech sector.”
“Leadership at Apple certainly noticed,” she wrote, adding that she was confident the rest of Silicon Valley did as well.
“Please know that Apple will continue its work with law enforcement,” Jackson continued. “We share law enforcement's concerns about the threat to citizens and we work closely with authorities to comply with legal requests for data that have helped solve complex crimes. Thousands of times every month, we give governments information about Apple customers and devices, in response to warrants and other forms of legal process. We have a team that responds to those requests 24 hours a day. Strong encryption does not eliminate Apple’s ability to give law enforcement meta-data or any of a number of other very useful categories of data.”
Jackson then noted to Podesta that Apple CEO Tim Cook’s appearance that night on CBS’ 60 Minutes was expected to include discussion of “encryption and taxes.”
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‘See how I handled Trump and the Clintons :)’
Nine emails released in the 30th batch were sent or received by Brent Budowsky, a Clinton supporter and weekly columnist for The Hill. He and Podesta appear to have a trusted and quite cozy relationship, to the point that Podesta felt comfortable cursing at Bernie Sanders and his team in front of the opinion writer.
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Budowsky, for his part, was sharing his columns with Clinton’s campaign chair and even discussing details for future pieces.
In one email, The Hill’s columnist shared his opinion piece, titling his email, “Column: TV in the tank for Trump | TheHill--see how I handled Trump and the Clintons :)”
In another, he wrote to Podesta that he would “soon be writing a column calling for an increase in social security financed by a speculation transaction tax and will directly address HRCS position based on whatever it is when I write the column.”
In some cases, Budowsky advises Podesta on Clinton’s strategic steps.
“I would propose that in the near future, Hillary give a short speech in front of the Statue of Liberty to invited religious leaders, Hispanic activists and immigration supporters and say that the Pope and religious leaders are right, and the US should accept a significant number of refugees now inundating Europe,” he wrote. “Bill and Chelsea could be by her side and there should not be one partisan word about Donald Trump or others.”
"Who is in charge at the campaign"
A May 9, 2015 email from top Democratic Party donor Haim Saban asks for information about “who is in charge at the campaign” for Clinton’s foreign policy as well as “Policy(what she talks about in her speeches),” following a fundraising event he held at Saban's home.
“I have received multiples mails from supporters who came to the event with HRC at my house. I’d like to share those with you and the foreign and domestic policy folks in charge,” Saban wrote to Podesta.
Podesta replies, “Jake Sullivan,” adding that he “is a good one stop shop and can get domestic questions to the right lead.”
“Laura pls get me Jake's contact info.” Saban replies to his advisor, Laura Hartigan.
Conflict of interest?
Clinton Foundation representative Darien Sturges emailed his colleague Amitabh Desai on April 16, 2012, informing him that “We've begun to work closely with NREL, the US Natl Renewable Energy Lab, on the island energy initiative.”
NREL, he added, was also involved in a few projects in Haiti and interested in meeting someone from the Clinton Foundation team.
Stating that Ira Magaziner, a senior advisor for former president Bill Clinton, would be running it, Desai emailed Podesta and Bruce Lindsey with concern over an “agreed/funded budget.”
Lindsey responded, “You should sit down with Darien and learn as much as you can about what they are doing, including if there are cost involved with NREL. As you know, Ira believes WJC has signed off on this.”