Trump, Clinton aide in Twitter spat

Ahead of meetings at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, President Donald Trump on Friday fired a tweet at John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chair.

“Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful!”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), July 7, 2017, from Hamburg

Here, Trump appears to be conflating two parts of the email scandal that broke during the presidential election last year. Podesta’s personal gmail account was hacked during the election, but his role was on Clinton’s campaign staff, not at the Democratic National Committee, which was also hacked.

Then- FBI director James B. Comey confirmed in January that the FBI had sought access to the DNC servers and been rebuffed, but there is no indication this was Podesta’s decision. Podesta had no role at the DNC.

Meantime, Podesta was on a family vacation when Trump’s tweet landed Friday.

He pulled over to send this seven-part rebuttal:

“1/ On a x- country road trip with my wife”

“2/ Pulled in for a pit stop in E. Fairmont W. Va. to see that our whack job POTUS @ realDonaldTrump is tweeting about me at the G20.

“3/ Get a grip man, the Russians committed a crime when they stole my emails to help get you elected President.

“4/ Maybe you might try to find a way to mention that to President Putin.

“5/ BTW, I had nothing to do with the DNC.

“6/ God only knows what you’ ll be raving about on twitter by the time we get to Utah.

“7/ 7 Dude, get your head in the game. You’re representing the US at the G20.”

— John Podesta (@johnpodesta), July 7, from somewhere in West Virginia