# New "scandal" brewing involving Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 2, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-scandal-brewing-involving-hillary-clinton-s-campaign-chairman-john-podesta/761523 "2016-08-02T02:07:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-scandal-brewing-involving-hillary-clinton-s-campaign-chairman-john-podesta/761523/1 "2016-08-02T02:07:47Z")
Is there anything to this story I encountered on Facebook? Some quick searching didn’t lead me to an obvious, decisive rebuttal. Here’s the “best” source I could find, from (ugh) Breitbart: [link](http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/08/01/report-hillary-clintons-campaign-mgr-john-podesta-sat-board-company-bagged-35-million-putin-connected-russian-govt-fund-2/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social). Summary: “Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta sat on the board of a small energy company alongside Russian officials that received $35 million from a Putin-connected Russian government fund, a relationship Podesta failed to fully disclose on his federal financial disclosures as required by law.” Looks like incredibly small beer to me at best. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-scandal-brewing-involving-hillary-clinton-s-campaign-chairman-john-podesta/761523/2 "2016-08-02T02:19:18Z")
Breitbart is desperate to blunt to Putin/Russia angle when it comes to Trump. Seriously, the “Government Accountability Institute” they cites (nonpartisan! independent!) is run by the author of [Clinton Cash](https://www.amazon.com/Clinton-Cash-Foreign-Governments-Businesses/dp/0062369288). Hilariously, the BB story tries to scratch out credibility by saying “Both the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal ran stories on the newly released report late Sunday evening” – but the WSJ “story” is an opinion column by the same guy. I didn’t bother looking up the Post version because it’s the NY Post. It’s a non-story created out of trying to suggest a bunch of ties that don’t really exist and supported by basically citing itself in different publications. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-scandal-brewing-involving-hillary-clinton-s-campaign-chairman-john-podesta/761523/3 "2016-08-02T02:21:58Z")
This from your link makes me question the accuracy of the “report”. > [@](#): > > That’s one of the many revelations from a 56-page report released late Sunday titled “From Russia with Money: Hillary Clinton, the Russian Reset, and Cronyism” by\*\* the non-partisan government watchdog group\*\*, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI). **Breitbart Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon holds the same title in GAI and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer serves as GAI’s president.** Non-partisan, my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-scandal-brewing-involving-hillary-clinton-s-campaign-chairman-john-podesta/761523/4 "2016-08-02T18:39:18Z")
Yeah, it’s laughable at best to say the GAI is non-partisan. I think it’s just a weak attempt at a counter to Trump’s calling on the Russians to hack Clinton’s email. But there does not appear to be anything substantive here. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-scandal-brewing-involving-hillary-clinton-s-campaign-chairman-john-podesta/761523/5 "2016-08-02T18:50:58Z")
[Who Funds Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute?](http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/04/21/who-funds-peter-schweizers-government-accountab/203355) > [@](#): > > Schweizer’s upcoming (_this article is from April 2015_) anti-Clinton book has garnered widespread media attention, despite the author’s long history of criticism from reporters for blatant errors, retractions, and reliance on sources that “do not exist.” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-scandal-brewing-involving-hillary-clinton-s-campaign-chairman-john-podesta/761523/6 "2016-08-02T21:42:51Z")
That’s not the Podestas’ only link to the Russians. Salon has also [noted](http://www.salon.com/2016/04/08/with_saudi_and_russian_ties_clinton_machines_tentacles_are_far_reaching_according_to_panama_papers/) that the Panama Papers show that the Podesta Group is the lobbyist for Russia’s largest bank. Other pro-Bernie [sources](http://www.inquisitr.com/2966406/clinton-smears-sanders-in-effort-to-distract-voters-from-panama-papers/) picked it up as well.