A leader of a top veterans group was concerned about not being included by the White House back in 2009 before President Obama announced a 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan, according to e-mails unearthed by WikiLeaks.
The emails, taken illegally from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, center on the group VoteVets.org, which is backed by more than 400,000 veterans and seeks to lobby for veteran issues.
“I know our members who we have polled don’t support what I think the [Obama] administration will unveil,” said Jon Soltz, chairman and co-founder of the group, in an email to Podesta on Nov. 28, 2009.
Obama would announce the troop buildup at a speech at West Point Military Academy a few days later.
Podesta responded that Soltz should seek answers from the White House about the proposal.
“[E]ven though we have been kind to the [administration] and always supported them we have never been a part of the conversation,” Soltz responded. “So I hope this doesn’t make things worse.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to VoteVets.org on Sunday but the group did not immediately return a request for comment.
