new york city mayor bill de blasio was slow to endorse democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton last year, drawing criticism from her aides and bewilderment from some of his own . but he was also working with her campaign during this time. according to leaked emails released wednesday, mr. de blasio briefed clinton campaign officials about a meeting with sen. bernie sanders and worked with them on talking points for television appearances. <u+201c>my message to him (saying this in confidence to you) is that i will always want to work with him in the future and will never have a bad word about him, but won<u+2019>t be supporting him in this campaign,<u+201d> mr. de blasio said to clinton campaign manager john podesta in september 2015, ahead of a meeting between the mayor and the vermont senator. mr. de blasio, a democrat who managed mrs. clinton<u+2019>s 2000 senate campaign, publicly said he hadn<u+2019>t made up his mind until he endorsed mrs. clinton for president in late october 2015. he declined to endorse mrs. clinton on many occasions, including during an appearance on nbc<u+2019>s <u+201c>meet the press<u+201d> a day after she announced she was running. a spokesman for mr. de blasio declined to comment on the emails, posted by the website wikileaks . a clinton spokesman said: <u+201c>by dribbling these out every day, wikileaks is proving they are nothing but a propaganda arm of the kremlin with a political agenda doing putin<u+2019>s dirty work to help elect donald trump. <u+201d> mr. podesta said earlier this week that he had been in contact with the federal bureau of investigation, calling the leak a <u+201c>criminal hack.<u+201d> mr. de blasio told the clinton campaign how he would praise mrs. clinton on tv. <u+201c>if asked what<u+2019>s holding me up on hillary, i<u+2019>ll allude to the progressive agenda and a few areas where i<u+2019>m seeking clarification,<u+201d> he said, a reference to a nonprofit designed by de blasio allies focused on issues such as income inequality. before he endorsed mrs. clinton, mr. de blasio tried to persuade both her and mr. sanders to attend his progressive agenda presidential forum in iowa. <u+201c>i quietly first want to see what date works for you guys before locking anything down,<u+201d> he said to mr. podesta. neither candidate agreed to attend, and the event was canceled . mr. de blasio gave mr. podesta advice about mrs. clinton and her debate performance in march. <u+201c>hillary was fantastic on the gun control answer, then totally blew the mass incarceration question. why on earth did she say <u+2018>are you going to ask senator sanders that question?<u+2019> instead of just addressing the issue. when she makes it about her, she loses the high ground. stating the obvious, i know, but she keeps doing it,<u+201d> he said in an email to mr. podesta. mr. de blasio asked clinton aides to give him more access to mrs. clinton but seemed to be rebuffed. at the democratic national convention, he was given an afternoon speaking slot. in one email to another clinton aide, mr. podesta jokes: <u+201c>bill de blasio for president!!<u+201d> write to josh dawsey at joshua.dawsey@dowjones.com
in emails, nyc mayor bill de blasio briefed hillary clinton<u+2019>s campaign before he endorsed her - wsj
josh dawsey