Former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta responded Friday to special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officials accused of hacking into computers owned by the Democratic Party and stealing Podesta’s emails.
“Donald Trump likes to describe this as a witch hunt,” Podesta told ABC News. “Well, we just found some witches, and they were indicted.”
“I think this is something that people knew that happened all along, that underlying all of this, crimes were committed, and that’s why the Mueller investigation has been so important and why it needs to be continued in an unfettered manner.”
John Podesta responds to new indictments of 12 Russian nationals for alleged effort to hack DNC, Hillary Clinton’s campaign:
“Donald Trump likes to describe this as a witch hunt—well, we just found some witches.” https://t.co/BHK5sr6LRC pic.twitter.com/iM4foV6bou
— ABC News (@ABC) July 13, 2018
President Trump, who refers to the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt, has expressed doubt about the Russians hacking into computers owned by the DNC, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
[White House: New indictments ‘consistent’ with Trump’s message about collusion]
Podesta had his personal Gmail account hacked in March 2016. WikiLeaks released thousands of the emails in intervals during the final weeks of the presidential campaign.
Podesta said Friday he couldn’t say whether the hack was responsible for Clinton’s loss in the 2016 election.
“When an election is so close, it’s hard to put your finger on any one particular issue, but clearly this had some impact.”
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments days before Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. Podesta does not expect Trump to confront Putin about the hacks.
“One would hope that he would push back on the Russian president in that regard. … Quite frankly, I don’t hold out much hope that he will take this any more seriously than he has during the course of his presidency,” Podesta said.
