John Podesta pulls off to the side of the road during a cross country road trip with his wife to bash 'whack job POTUS'
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Podesta was responding to a tweet the president sent earlier Friday morning in which he claimed that "everyone" at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, where the president is currently convening with world leaders, "is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA."
"Disgraceful!" he said.
Podesta shot back by attacking Trump's refusal to unequivocally blame Russia for interfering in the 2016 US election. He referred to the finding of multiple US intelligence agencies, which concluded in a January report that the Russian government directed efforts to influence the election in favor of Trump, including cyberattacks targeting the Democratic National Committee and Podesta's email account.
"Get a grip man, the Russians committed a crime when they stole my emails to help get you elected President," Podesta wrote. "Maybe you might try to find a way to mention that to President Putin."
Podesta wrote that he "had nothing to do with the DNC," implying that he was not involved in the committee's reported refusal to grant the FBI access to its hacked computer server. Contrary to Trump's claim, there are no public reports that the CIA requested to investigate the DNC's server.
A longtime Clinton aide and powerful Democratic operative, Podesta has never been a DNC official, and Clinton was not yet the Democratic nominee at the time the DNC was hacked.
A DNC spokeswoman responded to Trump's tweet on Friday:
Podesta began his series of seven tweets by saying that he is currently on a cross-country road trip with his wife and discovered the president's tweet about him during a pit stop in East Fairmont, West Virginia.
The former Clinton aide also criticized the timing of Trump's tweet, which came immediately prior to a full day of high-stakes meetings - including Trump's much anticipated first encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Dude, get your head in the game. You're representing the US at the G20," Podesta concluded.
1) Podesta never ran the DNC.
2) DNC worked with FBI to kick out Russians. Worked with DHS.
3) Putin make you tweet this before mtg? https://t.co/0IUEYpSpgQ
- Adrienne Watson (@Adrienne_DNC) July 7, 2017
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