The WikiLeaks revelation comes as Peter Kadzik is in the middle of another flare-up over Hillary Clinton's emails. | Getty WikiLeaks: DOJ official gave Clinton camp 'heads up' about email filing

A senior Department of Justice official gave Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman a "heads up" about new developments related to Clinton's email use as secretary of state, according to hacked emails published Wednesday by WikiLeaks.

In May of 2015, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik emailed Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta to tell him about potential developments at an impending congressional hearing, as well as about a new development in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for the emails Clinton turned over to the State Department from her private account.


In an email from Kadzik's personal account titled "Heads up," he wrote: “There is a [House Judiciary Committee] oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails. Another filing in the FOIA case went in last night or will go in this am that indicates it will be awhile (2016) before the State Department posts the emails.”

Podesta forwarded the email to a cadre of top Clinton aides, adding: “Additional chances for mischief.”

It appears Kadzik was referencing a subcommittee hearing on “Ongoing Oversight: Monitoring the Activities of the Justice Department’s Civil, Tax and Environment and Natural Resources Divisions and the U.S. Trustee Program.” Four DOJ officials testified at the hearing, which was publicly announced.

The WikiLeaks revelation comes as Kadzik is in the middle of another flare-up over Clinton's email, after FBI Director James Comey Friday informed Congress of possible new developments in the case.

"We assure you that the Department will continue to work closely with the FBI and together, dedicate all necessary resource and take appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible," Kadzik wrote in letters to Congress on Monday.

Podesta and Kadzik have a longstanding relationship. During Bill Clinton's presidency, Kadzik provided legal representation to Podesta during the probe that ultimately led to revelations of Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinski. In a separate hacked email published by WikiLeaks, Podesta said Kadzik "kept me out of jail."

Previous WikiLeaks emails have shown an ongoing friendship between Kadzik and Podesta. They, along with other friends, had dinner together the day after Clinton testified before a House panel about the 2012 attacks on a U.S. facility in Benghazi.

Trump seized on the hacked email at a rally in Miami Wednesday.

“In a newly released email, through WikiLeaks again, we learned that Kadzik was feeding information about the investigation into the Clinton campaign,” Trump said. “And that Kadzik said, ‘It will be awhile before the State Department posts the emails.’”

“These are the people that want to run our country, folks,” Trump added. “The spread of political agendas into the Justice Department — there’s never been a thing like this that has happened in our country’s history — is one of the saddest things that has happened to our country.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Clinton's campaign has declined to comment on the veracity of the WikiLeaks emails, accusing the site of working to aid Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

