A top Hillary Clinton adviser is accusing a longtime Donald Trump aide of receiving "advance warning'' about WikiLeaks' plans to publish thousands of hacked emails, suggesting the Republican candidate is aiding the unprecedented Russian interference in American politics.
Clinton adviser John Podesta pointed the finger at Trump adviser Roger Stone on Tuesday, saying he's been in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Podesta also raised as evidence an August tweet in which Stone said Podesta's "time in the barrel'' was coming. The tweet was sent shortly after WikiLeaks published scores of hacked emails from other Democratic officials.
"I think it's a reasonable assumption, or at least a reasonable conclusion, that Mr Stone and the Trump campaign had advance warning about what Assange was going to do,'' Podesta said from the Clinton campaign plane.
Podesta acknowledged the evidence was circumstantial, but confirmed the FBI is investigating the hack of his private email account as part of the ongoing probe in other Democratic Party hackings by groups with Russian ties.
Last week, intelligence officials said they believe the individuals responsible are working for Russian intelligence and coordinating with Assange on the political hacking.
Podesta said Russia's actions may be driven by Trump's policy positions, which he said are more in line with Russian foreign policy than US foreign policy. But he also suggested the driving force could be Trump's ties with Russian interests through his business affairs.
Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak has dismissed the accusations as untrue.
"We are watching very carefully the election campaign in this country," Kislyak said on Tuesday at a discussion of bilateral affairs at Johns Hopkins University's campus in Washington.
"We don't interfere (in) the internal affairs of the United States, neither by my statements nor by electronic or other means.''
