newly disclosed emails show there were close ties between hillary clinton <u+2019>s presidential campaign and top democratic party officials long before she wrapped up the nomination, despite a longstanding mandate that the national party remain neutral in intraparty fights. more emails from clinton campaign chairman john podesta were published<u+00a0>wednesday<u+00a0>by the website wikileaks, shedding new light on the relationship between top party officials and mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign<u+2014>a source of acrimony among vermont sen. bernie sanders, mrs. clinton and the democratic national committee during the primary campaign season. the emails have the potential to revive the anger some sanders supporters felt toward the party and its leaders. mrs. clinton has had trouble consolidating some of the demographic groups that backed mr. sanders, especially younger voters<u+2014>though mr. sanders himself has become an enthusiastic surrogate for mrs. clinton. on wednesday, mr. podesta<u+2019>s twitter account also was hacked, with a message posted declaring, <u+201c>i<u+2019>ve switched teams. vote trump 2016.<u+201d> the emails released so far contain mostly embarrassing but not politically explosive banter among mrs. clinton<u+2019>s top aides about politics, personnel and campaign strategy. but republican nominee donald trump has made the leak a prominent theme on the campaign trail, alleging the emails demonstrate <u+201c>corruption.<u+201d> <u+201c>the hillary clinton documents released today by wikileaks make more clear than ever just how much is at stake in this election, so much corruption. this election will determine whether we remain a free country in the truest sense of the word or we become a corrupt banana republic,<u+201d> mr. trump said at a<u+00a0>tuesday<u+00a0>rally. donna brazile, who was a cnn contributor and then the vice chairwoman of the dnc, wrote in one email to mr. podesta that <u+201c>as soon as the nomination is wrapped up, i will be your biggest surrogate.<u+201d> in another chain, she appears to have been in possession of a question that would be asked of mrs. clinton one day later at a town-hall meeting, sharing it with clinton campaign officials. a day before a cnn democratic presidential town hall event, ms. brazile sent clinton communications director jennifer palmieri an email with the heading: <u+201c>from time to time i get the questions in advance.<u+201d> ms. brazile included a question about the death penalty in the email, saying, <u+201c>here<u+2019>s one that worries me about hrc.<u+201d> the following day, ricky jackson, a former death-row inmate who was exonerated, asked mrs. clinton about the issue during the televised town-hall event. <u+201c>i often shared my thoughts with each and every campaign, and any suggestions that indicate otherwise are simply untrue,<u+201d> ms. brazile, who is now the party<u+2019>s interim chairwoman, said in a statement. <u+201c>as it pertains to the cnn debates, i never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if i did.<u+201d> added a cnn spokesperson: <u+201c>as we have said since news of this broke, cnn did not share a question with donna brazile, or anyone else for that matter, prior to the town hall,<u+201d> adding that the network believed a broadcast partner on the town hall may have shared the question. in another thread, an adviser to mrs. clinton drafted a memo concerning the debate schedule, suggesting limiting the number of debates and limiting mrs. clinton<u+2019>s one-on-one debates. the dnc initially scheduled six debates, drawing protests from mr. sanders and martin o<u+2019>malley, another democratic candidate, that more were needed. mr. podesta and mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign communications director, jennifer palmieri, also received an email from a scholar at the center for american progress noting that then-wall street journal managing editor robert thomson and rupert murdoch, chairman of news corp, which owns the journal, were raising their children as catholics. <u+201c>many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all catholic (many converts) from the sc and think tanks to the media and social groups,<u+201d> wrote john halpin, a senior fellow at the center. ms. palmieri wrote back: <u+201c>i imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. their rich friends wouldn<u+2019>t understand if they became evangelicals.<u+201d> mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign has refused to confirm or deny the authenticity of the hacked documents, which wikileaks claims amount to about 50,000 emails belonging to mr. podesta, one of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s top advisers and political strategists. so far, the organization has published about 7,200 documents, and campaign officials are bracing for the release of a few thousand documents a day until election day. the federal bureau of investigation suspects russian intelligence agencies are behind the disclosures of the clinton campaign emails and of a contractor handling florida voter data, according to people briefed on the investigations. top russian officials shifted on wednesday from denying a role in a separate hack of the dnc. <u+201c>everyone is saying, <u+2018>who did it?<u+2019> <u+201d> president vladimir putin said at an investor forum in moscow. <u+201c>but does it matter that much? it<u+2019>s what<u+2019>s inside the information that matters.<u+201d> <u+201c>if you think you<u+2019>d like all the contents of all your emails for 10 years dumped into public, think about how that feels. it doesn<u+2019>t feel great,<u+201d> mr. podesta told reporters tuesday. <u+201c>but i<u+2019>m kind of zen about it at this stage.<u+201d> the clinton campaign has suggested that russia may have orchestrated the hack. the fbi suspects russian intelligence agencies are behind the hack, according to people briefed on the investigations. mr. sanders made the removal of dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz a priority during the primaries. ms. wasserman schultz stepped down over the summer, after a separate email leak showed dnc staffers disparaging mr. sanders. <u+201c>the job of the progressive movement now is to look forward, not backward,<u+201d> sen. sanders said in a statement. <u+201c>no matter what secretary clinton may have said years ago behind closed doors, what<u+2019>s important today is that millions of people stand up and demand that the democratic party implement the most progressive platform in the history of our country.<u+201d> in an email thread from 2014, mr. podesta and mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign manager, robby mook, discussed the potential democratic primary election calendar, which at that point was still in flux amid negotiations among state parties, state governments and the dnc. democratic consultant chris lehane <u+201c>called me about [california] primary and i told him that the operating strategy is to keep blue states late (i.e. don<u+2019>t move ca),<u+201d> mr. mook wrote. <u+201c>he said he was at dinner with you and was under the impression that you wanted to move it earlier. he<u+2019>s wondering how to proceed and i said i<u+2019>d try to get us on the same page and go back with an answer. are you ok with me saying that we both want ca to stay where it is?<u+201d> in another email, an adviser named charlie baker sent a <u+201c>debate proposal<u+201d> outlining that the clinton campaign had concluded that it was in its interest to limit the number of debates, start them later in the calendar and avoid any february events. <u+201c>the other campaigns have advocated (not surprisingly) for more debates and for the schedule to start significantly earlier. mo and anita believe that this announcement prior to the actual entry into the race of other candidates will strengthen their hand as they lock a schedule in with local media partners and state parties,<u+201d> mr. baker wrote, referring to a dnc staff member and a consultant. the initial plan that the democratic party eventually adopted many of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign recommendations, scheduling six debates which started in october, 2015<u+2014>months after the republicans held their first debate. under pressure from mr. sanders, the party eventually added several forums. a democratic party official said wednesday that the party had been in contact with all its presidential candidates and it<u+2019>s unclear what transpired in the internal debate or why the party made the decisions it made. in other emails, the independence of the dnc was questioned. in a march, 2015 email exchange, a top clinton adviser expressed frustration that ms. wasserman schultz was moving ahead with plans to hire a chief for the democratic national convention without the clinton team<u+2019>s stamp of approval. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m distressed that dws hired a convention ceo without consulting us,<u+201d> mr. mook wrote. <u+201c>john<u+2014>you, charlie and i may need to sit down with debbie to make clear how we want things to change/improve before we are willing to consider playing ball with them.<u+201d> the email was sent before mrs. clinton even had officially launched her campaign. mr. mook wrote in a subsequent message to mrs. clinton: <u+201c>it boggles my mind that they didn<u+2019>t even consult the white house or us.<u+201d> <u+2014>devlin barrett, damian paletta, carol e. lee and reid j. epstein contributed to this article. write to byron tau at byron.tau@wsj.com and colleen mccain nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com
hacked emails show clinton links with democratic party - wsj
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