Clinton defenders slam Wikileaks as Trump, Russian dirty work

The provocative website’s decision to release more than 5,000 emails in three separate batches dropped on Friday, Monday and Tuesday prompted some of Clinton’s allies to lash out at Russia and its alleged involvement in hacking Podesta’s account. Others simply focused on the sinister nature of the stolen correspondence.

Wikileaks has claimed to possess 50,000 Podesta emails. If the site maintained the pace set this week by its trio of successive document dumps, it could continue releasing thousands of internal Clinton campaign emails every morning until Election Day.

A Clinton campaign spokesman slammed Donald Trump’s embrace of the Wikileaks documents Tuesday, accusing one of his former advisers, Roger Stone, of colluding with hackers to expose Podesta’s emails.

“Donald Trump has once again cheered on Russian hacking after he willfully misrepresented at the debate that hacking may not be happening,” Glen Caplin, a Clinton campaign spokesman, said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “It is chilling that long time Trump associate Roger Stone is in contact with WikiLeaks and even predicted two months ago that Podesta’s emails would be next.”

Caplin ticked off a list of Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, such as a former foreign policy adviser accused of meeting with Kremlin intelligence officials and reports of undisclosed financial ties to Russia. He said Trump has “played dumb about Russia’s role in this hack.”

But Wikileaks has remained quiet about its plans, sources and motivations. The site spoke out through social media Tuesday evening against attempts to dismiss the Podesta emails solely because they became public through questionable means.

The Obama administration has blamed Russian-backed groups for several high-profile hacks this year, including a breach of the Democratic National Committee that ultimately ousted Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then the DNC chair. Wasserman Schultz’s underhanded efforts to boost Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary enraged progressives and stoked speculation about who could be targeting the party’s most powerful figures.

Donna Brazile, acting DNC chair, declined to address details exposed by the Wikileaks emails in a statement Tuesday that focused on Russia’s alleged attempts to sway the U.S. presidential race.

“Our intelligence community has made it clear that the Russian government is responsible for the cyberattacks aimed at interfering with our election, and that WikiLeaks is part of that effort,” Brazile said. “This revelation should deeply trouble all Americans in both parties.”

While Brazile did not confirm or deny the authenticity of the emails, she said DNC officials were “in the process of verifying” the emails because “it is common for Russia to spread misinformation and forge documents.”

“I am deeply disappointed that the Republican leaders of the party of Reagan are publicly using information illegally obtained by the Russians, because the national security of our country should not be a partisan issue,” she added.

Among other revelations concerning the acting DNC chair, Brazile was caught feeding the Clinton campaign a question planned for an upcoming CNN townhall and warning campaign staff of Sanders’ outreach plans during the primary.

The Wikileaks emails exposed roughly 80 pages of excerpts from Clinton’s paid speeches, including her calls for “open trade and open borders” and her admission that leaders who accept a high volume of Syrian refugees could struggle to catch “jihadists” that hide among “legitimate refugees.”

Donald Trump used the Wikileaks emails to attack his opponent on Tuesday.

However, it is unclear whether the Clinton activities exposed by Wikileaks will sway voters in the few weeks remaining before they head to the polls.

Because the Clinton campaign and the DNC have focused heavily on Russia’s alleged involvement, they have dodged questions about the contents of the hacked emails.

Clinton’s only acknowledgement of Wikileaks’ findings came during the presidential debate Sunday, when moderators confronted her with a question about her statement, in a paid speech, that politicians needed both a public and private position in order to pass their agendas.

She briefly argued her words had been taken out of context before pivoting to an attack on the Russians.

While some have argued the illegal methods used to obtain Podesta’s emails should preclude them from being used as campaign fodder, Republicans have pointed to the Democrats’ use of Trump’s illegally-published tax returns as evidence that newsworthy records should stand on their own merits, regardless of how they became public.

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, dismissed suggestions earlier this month that his website aimed to harm Clinton’s candidacy.

Assange began teasing the release of Clinton-related material more than a month before the first wave of Podesta emails hit his site, prompting critics to suggest he was bluffing about the impending document release.

The Wikileaks founder said in early September that unidentified sources had stepped forward to provide new records after witnessing the fallout from the DNC hack.