Trump: ‘Everyone here is talking about’ DNC, Podesta

Tweeting early Friday morning from the Group of 20 summit in Germany, President Trump said “everyone here is talking about” how Democrats handled the hacking related to last year’s presidential election.

Trump appeared to conflate John Podesta, the chairman of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, with the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Both Podesta’s email account and the DNC were breached and had documents leaked by hackers the intelligence community believes were working for Russia.

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

The DNC initially refused to allow the FBI direct access to its servers in the wake of the cyberattack.

{mosads}

Former FBI Director James Comey told Congress in January that the agency and the DNC ultimately agreed that a “highly respected private company” would examine the servers and share its findings with the FBI.

The House Intelligence Committee interviewed Podesta in its ongoing probe of the Russian hacks late last month.

Podesta was not working for the DNC at the time and would have had no authority over their servers.

The DNC responded to Trump on Twitter Friday, saying it had cooperated with both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the hacks.

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

Trump has received criticism for repeatedly refusing to endorse the conclusion that the hacks were intended by Moscow to help him reach the White House.