Podesta's Emails Reveal The Obama Department Of Justice Colluded With The Clinton Campaign

TOP TAKEAWAYS

Brian Fallon was in touch with the Department of Justice regarding the release of Hillary Clinton's emails.

During the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton was given a question for a forum in advance by the current head of the Democratic National Committee.

Clinton's team tried to conflate the Benghazi scandal and email scandal, but even they thought it might be a bridge-to-far.

As Clinton's secret server scandal erupted, her team strategized on how to make it "die" in the short term.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz warned the Clinton campaign that it felt "stale" and lacked the transparency needed to get voters to trust her.

1. Brian Fallon Was In Touch With "DOJ Folks" About Clinton's Email Litigation. "DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judge's thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today." (Brian Fallon, Email To Robby Mook., "Subject: [Blank]," John Podesta Wikileaks, 5/26/15)

2. On March 12th, 2016, Current DNC Chairwoman (Then Advisor), Donna Brazile, Sent An Email To Clinton Campaign Staffer With The Subject "From Time To Time I Get The Questions In Advance," Before A Democrat Primary Forum. "Here's one that worries me about HRC. DEATH PENALTY. 19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the U.S. That's 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty?" (Donna Brazile Email To Jennifer Palmieri And Betsaida Alcantara, "Re: From Time To Time I Get The Questions In Advance," John Podesta Wikileaks, 3/12/16)

3. The Hillary Clinton Campaign Worked To Connect The Benghazi Scandal To The Email Scandal, But Worried If "Voters Will Believe That We Can Credibly Conflate Benghazi And Emails." "All three TV firms are script writing, we'll review drafts tomorrow afternoon. Research had pulled for us some of our best news clips. The trick, of course, is to connect Benghazi to emails in a way that's credible. But we discussed different ways to do it. The difficult part here is testing - if we want to ship something early next week, our testing options are very limited, and I feel like we really need to understand whether voters will believe that we can credibly conflate Benghazi and emails." (Oren Shur, Email To Robby Mook, Et Al., "Benghazi - Paid Media Update," John Podesta Wikileaks, 10/1/15)

In October, 2015, Clinton's Campaign Launched A Campaign Advertisement Accusing Republicans Of Creating The Benghazi Special Committee For Political Purposes. AD VOICEOVER: "Republicans finally admit it." ANDREA MITCHELL: "Republican Kevin McCarthy saying the committee investigating Benghazi and Clinton's emails was created to destroy her candidacy." REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi Special Committee. What are her numbers today?" AD VOICEOVER: "Republicans have spent millions attacking Hillary because she's fighting for everything they oppose. From affordable health care to equal pay, she'll never stop fighting for you, and the republicans know it." HILLARY CLINTON: "I'm Hillary Clinton, and I approve this message." (Hannah Fraser-Chanpong, "New Hillary Clinton Ad Targets Benghazi Committee," CBS News, 10/5/15)

4. Nick Merrill Talks About "Cauterize[ing]" News Of Hillary's Private Email Address "Just Enough So It Plays Out Over The Weekend And Dies In The Short Term." "I called Craig this evening to give a general download on where we were and get an update about what's going on in Foundation-land. We got to talking about the day tomorrow and he mentioned that President Clinton and Chelsea are doing an onstage panel with Larry Wilmore (Colbert's replacement on Comedy Central) during the closing plenary tomorrow evening. HRC is not slated to join, but maybe she should. Wilmore could sit down with WJC and Chelsea and say something like 'Thanks for having me here, it's a pleasure. And I should tell you, I just emailed HRC (I hear she's a big emailer), and asked if she'd join as well. (Laughter).' Then cue HRC walking onstage to applause. She could sit down, take advantage of the light-hearted environment to make things serious for a moment, and give a version of the statement, maybe with a follow-up or two, and then they would have the rest of the conversation. It would be just light-hearted enough while giving her the opportunity to address this seriously, be a little conciliatory as discussed, and then get back to a discussion about CGI etc. Goal would be to cauterize this just enough so it plays out over the weekend and dies in the short term. Jen and I just discussed, and she was open to it, so I'll let her weigh in, but one of the things she suggested was that if we do this we employ the letter-to-State idea below as well earlier in the day, so in addition to getting the human side of HRC for the cameras, we'd have a set-the-record-straight piece to this that closes off that avenue of attack as well. It might be crazy, but it might also be the one-two punch we need right now. Thoughts welcome. Nick" (Nick Merrill, Email To Jennifer Palmieri Et Al., "Re: Q&A," John Podesta Wikileaks, 3/07/16)

5. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Wrote To Cheryl Mills That Clinton Campaign Felt "Stale," And Lacked The "Transparency" People Will Need To Trust Clinton. "For what it's worth some respectful thoughts for consideration...From the outside looking in, I see an old style start to the campaign that feels stale with very few signs of the kind of freshness and transparency that the American people (especially millennials) will need to trust and ultimately elect HRC as President. It's also becoming very apparent and concerning that the media is not on her side. This will get only worse and not bode well for her as time goes on. She desperately needs the people on her side. And, although it's early, the imprinting process has begun... And, I don't like how it feels." (Howard Schultz, Email To Cheryl Mills, "For Your Consideration...," John Podesta WikiLeaks , 7/6/15)

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Elections

Hillary Clinton

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