PHILADELPHIA _ Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman suggested Tuesday that Russia might be attempting to interfere with the U.S. presidential election, leaning into the relationship that he believes Republican nominee Donald Trump has with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"He certainly has a bromance with Mr. Putin," John Podesta said at a Bloomberg Politics breakfast in Philadelphia on the second day of the Democratic National Convention when asked if there are closer ties between the two men than is publicly known.
The publishing by Wikileaks last week of some contents of the Democratic National Committee's email archives knocked the party off its equilibrium just as it prepared to begin its convention this week. Some messages showed DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her team leaning toward Clinton during the primary race when they were expected to stay neutral.
The FBI is investigating the incident, which is believed to have been orchestrated by Russian hackers, something Podesta also said. "We know pretty well now that the attacks came from" Russia, he said.
It would be reaching into new territory for Russia to attempt to interfere with the presidential race, Podesta said. "I think that the Russians do have a history of interfering with democratic elections in Europe," he said. "I think it would be unprecedented in the United States."
Podesta also suggested that it's possible that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has some intelligence about the hack of the DNC and, perhaps, other Democratic groups. "Maybe he has inside information," Podesta said in response to a question from NBC's Andrea Mitchell, who said that Priebus had told her Monday that he expected more leaks on Clinton during the presidential race. "It's interesting he's so confident about that," he said.
The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During an hour-long question-and-answer session, Podesta also offered a preview of the deeply personal speech that former President Bill Clinton plans to deliver in support of his wife and cut into Trump's policy positions and public statements, including on race.
Podesta declined Tuesday to call Trump a racist, but said that some of the positions he's taken have been rooted in racism.
"Saying he's a racist sort of implies that I know him or that anyone knows him," Podesta said.
"Saying a judge can't fairly decide a case, a judge born in Indiana, because his parents were born in Mexico, that's racist," he said, adding Trump's proposed Muslim ban and comments on other Mexican immigrants to the list of racist things Trump has said.
"If you look at that you can't call it" anything other than racism, Podesta said. "He's running a campaign of racial division and it's unbecoming of a major national candidate. He's definitely running a campaign that's intended to stoke up racial division in this campaign and when he does it he should be called out for that."
Podesta cast doubt on the effectiveness of Trump's message to voters, saying it may play to his core supporters but repel independents.
"A platform of 'string her up' is not exactly uplifting," he said. "I think it played to the base, but I think there are a lot of voters wondering, 'Is that all they've got?'"
He was responding to Trump's convention in Cleveland last week, where delegates chanted "lock her up!" and many speakers more forcefully expressed their objections to the presumptive Democratic nominee than their enthusiasm for the billionaire Republican. The "vast majority of people in the middle" reject that kind of message, Podesta predicted.
