In the latest WikiLeaks Podesta email dump, a new email reveals that the Hillary Clinton campaign was told in late February that they should not underestimate Bernie Sanders in the upcoming primaries and that they would be making a bad mistake listening to their own “bullsh**.” Instead, the campaign was told that Sanders should “be ground to a pulp.” The message came from Bill Clinton’s former senior advisor, Joel Johnson, to Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

WikiLeaks released a new batch of John Podesta emails including one that showcased exactly how much of a threat the Clinton campaign saw Sanders at the start of the primaries. Bill Clinton’s former senior advisor Joel Johnson wrote an email to Podesta indicating that Bernie should be “crushed” and that Clinton should not move to general election rhetoric until he was “ground to a pulp.”

CRUSH HIM AS HARD AS YOU CAN! Clinton adviser & media strategist about Bernie Sanders to #Podesta25. #Wikileaks pic.twitter.com/kWxPYbl7oO — Poliphilosophy (@poliphilosophy) November 1, 2016

Johnson warned that they “can’t start believing our own primary bullsh**.” That “bullsh**” is presumably the idea that Bernie Sanders isn’t a threat and that the Clinton campaign had the primary in the bag. Instead, Johnson noted Sanders as a real threat and that he should be completely destroyed before moving on to general election talk.

“Bernie needs to be ground to a pulp. We can’t start believing our own primary bullsh**. This is no time to run the general. Crush him as hard as you can. Other than that, hope all is well and congrats on Nevada!”

The email came after Clinton had a rough start to the primaries, losing New Hampshire by double digits and winning Iowa by small margins. Johnson did congratulate Clinton on winning Nevada, but was critical of the campaign switching to a rhetoric of absolute victory and instead thought they should focus on ensuring Sanders was out of the race entirely.

WikiLeaks releases latest batch of #PodestaEmails from Clinton campaign chair https://t.co/MBxYh48iDW — TRUMP MOVEMENT (@TRUMPMOVEMENTUS) November 1, 2016

So how exactly was Joel Johnson related to the Clinton campaign since he used words like “our primary?” Following his stint as Bill Clinton’s advisor, Johnson moved on to work with Glover Park Group.

“Joel now heads a team of professionals who specialize in crafting and implementing legislative strategy, working in tandem with The Glover Park Group’s Public Affairs Division, advertising and crisis management teams.”

His specialty was legislative strategy, adverting and crisis management in regards to public affairs. The advice seemingly indicates that Sanders was likely overlooked early on in the Clinton campaign which would later come back to haunt them as primaries were much closer than Clinton would have liked. Therefore, Johnson gave the advice to ensure Sanders was crushed.

Joel Johnson’s emails didn’t end with the attack on Sanders, a few days after the email regarding Sanders, Johnson asked Podesta who was “in charge of the Trump swift boat project.”

While it may seem harsh for a Clinton strategic advisor to tell the campaign to ground Sanders “to a pulp,” it likely isn’t too surprising to Sanders supporters. In another Wikileaks email, Breitbart reveals that it was the Clinton campaign that leaked a “creepshot” of Sanders as he sunbathed in some swimming trunks.

Podesta asked if they could tweet the photo but later they decided to “leak” it to the New York Post instead. It seems the the NY Post declined to post the photo but the Clinton campaign didn’t give up on ensuring the photo was made public. Shortly after, Perez Hilton leaked the photo with the caption “wonder what Mike Bloomberg would think.”

“I wonder what Mike Bloomberg would think about this???Bernie Sanders lounges at elite Martha’s Vineyard pool, summer 2015 after helping raise money from Wall Street lobbyists.”

[Featured Image by Jim Cole/AP Images]