Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager charged Tuesday that it wasn’t a “coincidence” that the leaked Democratic National Committee emails were released right before the party’s convention.
“All I know is what the experts and the reporters are telling us, what they’re saying is it was likely Russian actors,” Robby Mook said on MSNBC. He was asked if he thinks there is a link between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, Russia and the DNC leak.
“They were likely the ones who released them,” Mook said, adding that he thinks “the timing around our convention was not a coincidence.”
Mook also said it is “troubling and puzzling” that Trump is calling for the United States to be friends with Russia.
“You saw in the Republican platform they removed aid for Ukraine, and Donald Trump said last week that he doesn’t believe that the United States should necessarily work with our NATO allies to defend Eastern Europe from Russian aggression,” Mook said.
But Mook declined to say if he thinks Trump directed Russia to hack the DNC.
The FBI announced Monday that it is investigating the hack of the DNC. WikiLeaks published roughly 20,000 internal emails from the committee, some showing favoritism by DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. Wasserman Schultz has since resigned.
Trump on Monday dismissed the Russian connection, calling the idea “the new joke in town.”
