Trump says 'everyone' at G-20 is talking about Podesta's role in Russian hacking episode
John Wagner
Ahead of meetings at the Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg, President Donald Trump on Friday fired off a Twitter post claiming "everyone" there was talking about the role of John Podesta, the former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman, in last year's Russian email hacking scandal.
Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2017
Trump's tweet came amid several others in which he recounted previous meetings with world leaders there and just hours before he was scheduled to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who U.S. intelligence officials have said directed his country's meddling in last year's election.
Trump appeared to conflate two parts of the email scandal. Email hacked from the Democratic National Committee server surfaced first last year, while hacked email from Podesta's personal account came out later. Podesta had no role at the DNC.
It was not immediately clear to whom Trump was referring when he said "everyone" at the G-20 summit was talking about Podesta.
Shortly after that post on Twitter, Trump fired off another tweet, saying: "I look forward to all meetings today with world leaders, including my meeting with Vladimir Putin. Much to discuss."
As recently as Thursday, Trump declined to say definitively that Russia had meddled in last year's U.S. elections - a conclusion reached by multiple U.S. intelligence agencies.
"I think it could very well have been Russia, but I think it could well have been other countries," Trump said at a joint news conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure."
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