CNBC chief Washington correspondent and New York Times columnist John Harwood congratulated Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta on the “climate deal” he helped get through the United Nations in 2015.
“Btw congrats on climate deal that you had a lot to do with,” Harwood wrote to Podesta in a December 2015 email after nearly 200 countries cut a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions to fight global warming.
The White House had been working behind the scenes for years to put the UN deal together. Those efforts were led by Podesta, who was brought on by President Barack Obama in 2014 to carry out his Climate Action Plan.
While Podesta had left the White House by the 2015 UN summit in Paris where the deal was agreed to, he had spent 2014 working to get China to commit to tackling global warming. China made no promise to cut emissions, but instead promised to peak them by 2030.
Regardless, it was still hailed as a major victory for the Obama administration by environmentalists. The White House used China’s emissions pledge to convince other major developing countries to sign on to a climate treaty.
The email was one of thousands released by WikiLeaks from Podesta’s hacked Gmail account. The Democratic power-broker has not confirmed the authenticity of the emails, but he said he’s spoken to the FBI about being the victim of Russian hackers.
Podesta’s hacked emails show Harwood has given advice to Clinton’s presidential campaign and even bragged about provoking Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during on of the primary debates.
Harwood wrote to Podesta in a December 2015 email that “Obama feels some (sad) vindication at this demonstration of his years-long point about the opposition party veering off the rails.”
“I certainly am feeling that way with respect to how I questioned Trump at our debate,” Harwood wrote.
In a May 2015 email, Harwood told Podesta to “watch out” for Republican primary candidate Dr. Ben Carson.
“Ben Carson could give you real trouble in a general,” Harwood wrote.
Harwood wasn’t the only one to praise Podesta for his role in putting together the UN climate deal.
“President Obama (and you earlier) made Paris a reality. Congratulations on a fine achievement,” Jairam Ramesh, an Indian economist and politician, wrote to Podesta in December 2015.
“And to you, my friend for all the work and leadership along the road,” Podesta responded, according to emails released by WikiLeaks.
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