WASHINGTON _ WikiLeaks has disclosed this week another large batch of what it says are hacked emails from the account of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, and the campaign is not hiding its irritation.
The disclosures have been an inconvenience for Clinton, to say the least. The emails, which the campaign of the Democratic presidential nominee will not confirm or deny are authentic, expose all manner of inner workings that the famously tight-lipped operation would prefer not be in the public domain.
There is the exchange where longtime Bill Clinton confidant Doug Band calls Chelsea Clinton a spoiled brat. There's one that includes what appears to be excerpts of Hillary Clinton's speeches before banking firms, in which she seems to tout the style of free trade she has been railing against during the campaign. There is the plotting that goes on as the campaign braces for the release of the book "Clinton Cash," an indictment of the Clintons' ties to foreign donors.
The campaign is now pushing back hard against WikiLeaks, pointing to evidence that the hackers who stole Podesta's emails were Russian operatives. Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon unleashed an overnight tweet storm suggesting the WikiLeaks disclosures reflect the Russian government's effort to give a boost to rival candidate Donald Trump.
Fallon called on reporters to disclose in their stories that the emails are a product of a foreign government hack and questioned why WikiLeaks has seemed to make no effort to unearth Trump's tax returns.
