How Trump can use WikiLeaks in debate

Donald Trump has plenty of new material to use against Hillary Clinton in Wednesday night’s debate. 

The question is, will he use it?

{mosads}For almost two weeks, the controversial anti-secrecy platform WikiLeaks has been releasing daily batches of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s personal email account. 

There has been nothing to amount to a true “October surprise” for Clinton, though many of the individual emails are embarrassing for the Democratic candidate.

Trump has made scattered allusions to the emails, but has yet to drill down on any of the messages during appearances on the stump. Some strategists say he’s missing a key opportunity.

The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, has refused to respond to the content of the emails, saying that they will not comment on the authenticity of stolen materials. The emails are widely believed to have been taken by Russian government hackers and then given to WikiLeaks.

Here are the four emails most likely to come up on Wednesday night.

1. “HRC and trade”

In a March 2015 email, campaign manager Robby Mook asked Podesta if Clinton should sign a letter in support of open trade.

At that time, the Obama administration and its allies in Congress were actively promoting legislation to speed trade deals, including the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), through Congress.

“I can’t recall where we landed exactly on trade. Is she going to say she supports it? Regardless of her position, signing a letter feels like poking the bear with labor to me,” Mook wrote.

“I’d try to stay off this,” Podesta advised.

Clinton’s opponents have criticized the former Secretary of State for “flip-flopping” on trade — while Trump has ridden a wave of anti-trade sentiment.

In what was seen as one of his strongest moments of the first debate, Trump hit Clinton over her husband’s support for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and for once calling TPP the “gold standard” of trade agreements.

The Trump campaign has already flagged the 2015 email in a blast sent Tuesday.

“No wonder blue-collar workers in key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina are lining up to be Trump democrats. They know Hillary Clinton is responsible for every bad trade deal in the last 23 years,” said Peter Navarro, senior economic advisor to Trump. “You don’t need WikiLeaks to know there is a clear choice on Nov. 8.” 

2. A rigged investigation?

In an email from May 2015, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that “DOJ folks” had “inform[ed]” him about an upcoming status conference in one of the lawsuits regarding Clinton’s private email setup.

The information about an upcoming court event would have been public knowledge and open for all to attend. And it’s unclear whether the people Fallon spoke to at the Justice Department were officials who regularly communicate with the public.

But Trump has used the email to call for a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton.

“The Department of Justice fed information to the Clinton campaign about the email investigation, so that the campaign could be prepared to cover up her crimes,” he said last week.

“This is collusion and corruption of the highest order, and is one more reason why I will ask my Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor. We have to investigate the investigation.”

Then, in an email from March of last year debating how to respond to Loretta Lynch’s appointment as attorney general, Clinton aide Huma Abedin told Podesta that Clinton “knows Loretta.”

“Not an extremely close relationship and don’t remember last time they connected… Regardless, definitely a cordial relationship,” she wrote.

Trump has seized on the missive as evidence of corruption in the investigation into Clinton’s private email server, something he regularly asserts during his stump speeches.

“The corruption of the Clintons knows no limits,” Trump said in Ohio last week. “WikiLeaks released new emails from early 2015 from Clinton campaign staffers discussing how friendly Hillary was with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, I’m shocked to hear that.”

3. “A public and private position”

The emails revealed excerpts — and in some cases full transcripts — of some of Clinton’s paid speeches before Wall Street banks and other financial organizations.

In a 2013 speech before the National Multi-Housing Council, Clinton reportedly said that “you need both a public and private position,” using events from the movie “Lincoln” as an example. It was part of a longer, more detailed discussion of the political maneuvering behind policymaking.

The eight-word nugget has been one of the more high-profile revelations from the stolen emails — perhaps due to perceptions that Clinton is “untrustworthy” — and it led to one of Trump’s strongest moments during the second debate.

“She lied,” Trump said. “Now she’s blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln. … Honest Abe. Honest Abe never lied. That’s the good thing. That’s the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you.”

4. A rigged debate?

In an email from March, then-Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair Donna Brazile sent Podesta an email with the subject line, “From time to time I get the questions in advance.”

“Here’s one that worries me about HRC,” she said, and included a question about the death penalty that was similar to a voter’s town hall question.

Brazile has denied that she had advance knowledge of specific questions for the town hall. CNN, which hosted the debate, has denied that anyone might have seen the questions beforehand.

Trump has claimed that the emails show Clinton received “debate questions” in advance — evidence of a system “rigged” in her favor.

“The WikiLeaks documents show how the media conspires and collaborates with Clinton campaign, including giving the questions and answers to Hillary Clinton before a debate,” he said in Ohio last week.

Bonus: “Quid Pro Quo”

Interview summaries from the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s server released on Monday revealed that two FBI agents told investigators that a senior State Department official discussed a possible “quid pro quo” arrangement with the agency.

According to the two unnamed agents, Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy said the department would approve additional FBI personnel for Iraq if the bureau would declassify a document found on Clinton’s server and place it under a FOIA exemption that would shield it from disclosure.

The agent who spoke to Kennedy, Brian McCauley, as well as Kennedy himself, have denied that the conversation involved any bargaining. Both also have denied Clinton was involved in the discussions, which occurred before the investigation was opened.

The FBI and the State Department have characterized the law enforcement agency’s request for further personnel overseas as a separate matter from any inter-agency squabble about the retroactive classification of documents.

Trump on Tuesday said the report shows “just how deep the corruption goes,” referring to the alleged incident on Twitter as “bribery.”

He has joined other Republican lawmakers in calling for Kennedy to be removed from office.