A lot has been made about the connections between recent Democratic presidential campaigns and billionaire George Soros.
In one of the latest WikiLeaks released emails, members of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s inner circle debated how to handle an anticipated request to attend a December 2014 fundraiser in Soros’ New York home for the America Votes group. Clinton’s longtime handler, Huma Abedin asked for input from campaign manager Robby Mook and campaign chairman John Podesta—from whose email inbox the email was obtained.
“She is having dinner with George Soros tonight. Do you know much about America Votes?” Abedin asked. “As Greg Speed explained to me, they are the coordinated campaign for various outside groups. Soros is a big supporter of the group and he’s going to ask her tonight if she will come to a fundraiser for them at his house in December. Thoughts?”
Mook said, “I would only do this for political reasons (i.e. to make Soros happy).”
He said it was “unclear” how much America Votes would matter in the 2016 presidential election. He said he didn’t see the group “adding any value” in the cycle, and he was concerned about “donor confusion” with a Clinton-aligned super PAC.
The email, however, adds a new wrinkle to another ongoing issue for the Clinton campaign: the relationship between Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Previous WikiLeaks emails suggested the two, while not bosom buddies, had a longstanding and friendly relationship with the former U.S. Attorney.
In the same email chain as the conversation about Soros, Podesta asked for Abedin to get Clinton’s opinion on Lynch. The email was sent in October 2014, about a month before she was nominated to succeed Eric Holder.
“Checked with her,” she said. “She doesn’t really know her and thus has no opinion. Sorry we aren’t more helpful.”
