John Podesta lashed out at Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer in a series of emails last year after Mr. Steyer told The New York Times that his financial backing would only go to candidates who agreed to fight for zero-carbon energy by 2050.
“I am deep in the middle of dealing with getting [expletive] by the NYT, but I didn’t expect to get [expletive] by you in the NYT. Thanks a lot for jumping us,” Mr. Podesta, campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton, said in the July 24, 2015, message, released Friday by WikiLeaks, which obtained them after a hack of Mr. Podesta’s email account.
He added: “I hope President Bush helps you reach your climate goals.”
And for good measure, he said: “PS great picture.”
Mr. Steyer replied that he didn’t think the article was “bad for you guys,” but Mr. Podesta was not mollified.
“You and I have different perspectives. I wish you luck,” Mr. Podesta said.
It’s unclear whether they patched things up.
Mr. Steyer called Mr. Podesta earlier this year to propose a climate change debate, according to an email from Mr. Podesta’s aide reporting on voice mails that had come in.
“If I don’t hear from you I will bug someone else, but wanted to ask you first,” Mr. Steyer said, according to the aide’s transcription of his voice mail.
Mr. Podesta’s team has acknowledged his emails were hacked, but has attempted to avoid commenting on them, blaming the hack on Russia and saying that country is using the email leaks to try to influence the U.S. election.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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