© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
John Podesta, campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton, claimed late Tuesday that Donald Trump’s campaign appeared to know details of the WikiLeaks hack on the Democratic nominee’s team long before it was released. Podesta said the FBI is investigating a “criminal hack” of his email account and considers the WikiLeaks release part of a larger agency investigation into Russian cyberattacks on members of the U.S. government. “I’ve been involved in politics for nearly five decades, and this definitely is the first campaign that I’ve been involved with in which I’ve had to tangle with Russian intelligence agencies, who seem to be doing everything they can on behalf of our opponent,” Podesta said. “Russian interference in this election and apparently on behalf of Trump is, I think, of the utmost concern to all Americans, whether you’re a Democrat or independent or Republican.” Podesta pointed to various remarks made months ago by Roger Stone, a former adviser to the campaign, that the Republican operative had been in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. “Around the same time, Stone pointed his finger at me, and said that I could expect some treatment that would expose me,” Podesta said. “So I think it’s a reasonable assumption to—or at least a reasonable conclusion—that Mr. Stone had advanced warning and the Trump campaign had advanced warning about what Assange was going to do.” Early Wednesday, WikiLeaks denied the accusations in a Twitter post, stating there was no contact with Stone.