DECISION 2016: 'What are You Afraid Of ' Clinton Email Server IT Specialist Fails to Attend House Hearing September 13

DECISION 2016: 'What are You Afraid Of ' Clinton Email Server IT Specialist Fails to Attend House Hearing September 13

IT HASN’T exactly been the best week for Donald Trump.

But it seems the Republican candidate and presidential hopeful isn’t the only one having a bad week.

Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s camp is reeling after the release of a second batch of leaked emails by WikiLeaks, which don’t exactly portray her campaign in the best light.

The emails from campaign manager John Podesta show Clinton appearing to blame Saudi Arabia and Qatar for funding Islamic State.

They also reveal Podesta’s email exchange with Blink 192 singer Tom DeLonge where they discuss their shared interest in UFOs.

The latest email dump follows the release of an earlier batch of messages, which revealed the chief operating officer of the Clinton Foundation threatened to commit suicide over stress she blamed on Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea.

In another email, Chelsea is described as “acting like a spoiled brat kid”.

SECOND BATCH

About 2000 new documents of leaked email exchanges claiming to be between Clinton and Podesta are among the second batch of emails released by WikiLeaks, with founder Julian Assange promising there are 50,000 in total.

One thread of correspondence from August 14 reveals a strategy on how to defeat IS, including supporting Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq with military advisers, The Independent reports.

Podesta was an adviser to Obama at the time.

The exchange also appears to show Saudi Arabia and Qatar being named as “clandestine”, “financial and logistic” and supporters of IS.

“While this military/paramilitary operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [IS] and other radical Sunni groups in the region,” the exchange reveals.

MORE LEAKS

Last week, WikiLeaks began releasing what it said were years of messages from accounts used by Podesta.

He has acknowledged his emails were hacked, but warned messages may have been altered or edited to inflict political damage.

However, he has not pointed to any specific case of this.

There is speculation that the emails came to light following a recent cyberattack on the Democratic National Convention.

US intelligence officials blamed Russia’s government for breaches and leaks intended to influence the presidential election, the Associated Press reveals.

However, the Russian ambassador to the United States has denied his country hacked the emails of Clinton administration officials that have been released by WikiLeaks.

On Tuesday, Sergey Kislyak dismissed the accusations as untrue.

He said Russia is “watching very carefully the election campaign in this country,” but it doesn’t “interfere (in) the internal affairs of the United States, neither by my statements nor by electronic or other means”.

GROWING DISCONTENT

That is not the only new thing to emerge from the latest email dump.

It also shows Clinton hasn’t always had wide support for her policies.

Despite her promotion of energy policies aimed at lessening climate change, there has not always been unanimity among her campaign aides about how strong that support should be.

Another exchange reveals some aides were not totally on board with Clinton’s promise in June 2015 to raise fees on companies involved in oil exploration and fossil fuel production on federal land.

Clinton had broached the idea at her campaign launch in June 2015, but raising energy royalties could be politically explosive in western states where oil and gas firms have spent billions of dollars on extracting fuels.

UFO OBSESSION

It’s not just politicians being caught up in the Podesta email leak.

Former Blink 182 singer Tom DeLonge reportedly sent two messages about alien spacecraft to Podesta.

DeLonge emailed Podesta on at least two occasions looking to have a casual and private conversation in person, Gizmodo reported.

“I would like to bring two very ‘important’ people out to meet you in DC. I think you will find them very interesting, as they were principal leadership relating to our sensitive topic,” DeLonge wrote.

“Both were in charge of most fragile divisions, as it relates to Classified Science and DOD topics. Other words, these are A-Level officials. Worth our time, and as well the investment to bring all the way out to you. I just need 2 hours from you.”

It was not known whether the emails received a response, however Podesta has reportedly shown an interest in UFOs in the past.

‘MOVE PAST CONTROVERSY’

The hacked emails also show Clinton’s campaign team was eager to move past the controversy over her use of a home-brew email server last year as it debated how to respond to the issue.

The Associated Press reported in March 2015 that the private server Clinton used as secretary of state was located in the basement of her New York home.

Two days later, her advisers were firing off messages to shape their response strategy.

Some of those have now been made public by WikiLeaks.

In one, campaign spokesman Nick Merrill suggested the goal was to “cauterise” the issue so it would die out within a couple of days.

It didn’t. However, critics have seized on the use of the server as an example of Clinton’s penchant for secrecy.