BOOM! Podesta Tongue-Tied after CBS Questions Why the Russian Trolls Knew Which States to Target Better Than Her Campaign Did

Former Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta dodged questions on Sunday about Democrats reportedly distancing themselves from Bill Clinton amid the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.



CBS host Nancy Cordes interviewed Podesta on "Face The Nation" and after being asked about Bill Clinton's role in the 2018 midterms, Podesta did not answer whether it was true that some Democrats didn't want him to be part of their campaigns, given the accusations of sexual misconduct by several women he's faced in the past.



"Midterm elections are coming up, and it's been reported that Democrats are telling your former boss, Bill Clinton, that in light of the #MeToo movement they think he should sit it out, he should be benched, and they're not looking for him to actively campaign for them," Cordes said. "Is that true and do you think that that's the right call?"
Hillary Clinton notoriously ignored key purple and light blue states which ended up making a difference in the 2016 election



Trump vigorously campaigned everywhere, including those states where a win wasn’t likely, right up to the last minute, while Hillary prepared her victory fireworks in New York City.




Guess who else knew to target such purple states? The Russian internet trolls who recently were indicted.



While Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein made clear their efforts didn’t affect the result of the election, at least the Russian trolls were minimally competent in U.S. politics, unlike Team Hillary.



From the Indictment:



31. In order to collect additional intelligence, Defendants and their co-conspirators posed as U.S. persons and contacted U.S. political and social activists. For example, starting in or around June 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, posing online as U.S. persons, communicated with a real U.S. person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organization. During the exchange, Defendants and their co-conspirators learned from the real U.S. person that they should focus their activities on “purple states like Colorado, Virginia & Florida.” After that exchange, Defendants and their co-conspirators commonly referred to targeting “purple states” in directing their efforts.



John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign Chair, appeared on CBS News Sunday, and was asked a brutal question.



Chuck Ross at The Daily Caller reports on the dialog (emphasis added):



“How is it that these Russian operatives knew to focus on purple states like Michigan and Wisconsin and your campaign didn’t?” Nancy Cordes, the host of “Face the Nation,” asked Podesta.



“Of course we spent a lot of time and energy and effort in all those states,” Podesta insisted.



“Hillary Clinton did not spend much time,” Cordes interjected.



“We had [Vice Presidential nominee] Tim Kaine was there, Barack Obama, and she spent enormous time in Pennsylvania and Michigan,” said Podesta.



“We spent a lot of effort, we had staff in Wisconsin that even President Obama had in 2012.”


"Look, I think he remains, I think, a figure who is popular with a lot of Democrats across the country and I think that people are calling him, candidates are calling him, and asking for advice, but whether he's going to be an active participant, I think that's not really on top of his mind right now," Podesta said. "I think he's doing other things, and people make their own judgments about whether he can be helpful in the campaign."



"Do you think it's a good idea, very quickly, for him to sit it out?" Cordes said.



"I think that if I was advising a campaign and a candidate about what to do, I would sort of judge whether he could be helpful," Podesta said. "I think some places he can be, probably some places he's more of a lightning rod."



Podesta served as Clinton's Chief of Staff when he was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 for perjury and obstruction, stemming from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones.