Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta made multiple attempts to get a Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times correspondent to write an op-ed calling for the extradition and jailing of the American dentist responsible for killing Cecil the Lion, emails released this week show.
After an initial August 2015 email from Podesta to Barry Bearak's New York Times email address, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, generated a bounceback message indicating Bearak no longer used the paper's email system, Podesta followed up with another Times writer four minutes later. "Can you pass on to Barry," he asked Celia Dugger, Bearak's wife. "He must not be using the NYT email anymore."
Podesta included the message he wanted passed along. "As the only person anyone knows who has spent time in a Zimbabwe jail, you should pen an oped calling for his killer's extradition," he wrote to Bearak. "What an asshole. Missed you at the mini-reunion."
Podesta was alluding to the time Bearak was thrown in prison by notorious Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe while covering the country's 2008 elections and Mugabe's backlash against opposition forces.
Bearak never wrote the op-ed Podesta suggested, though emails show he did eventually receive his request. In a response, Bearak tells Podesta "I don't wish Zimbabwe's jails on anyone." Instead, he suggested Podesta "arrange for the culprit to enter the Federal Dentist Protection Program."
"It was an inside joke, two friends from college saying hi," Bearak told the Free Beacon. "It was sent to my wife Celia Dugger because I had changed my email."
The emails were posted online by Wikileaks. The director of national intelligence and the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security have accused "Russia’s senior-most officials" of hacking and leaking emails posted to Wikileaks and other sites to influence the 2016 election.
The email exchange between Podesta and Dugger also hinted at tensions between the Clinton campaign and the Times. "Hope you are well and enjoying the tong war we are engaged in with your employer," Podesta said to Dugger. "We missed you in Truckee too."
"Yes, ay yay yay," Dugger reponded. "Of course, Cecil's murder by far the most read story of yesterday. Miss you guys and the reunion."
The Clinton Campaign and Celia Dugger did not immediately return requests for comment.
Update Oct. 28, 9:03 A.M.: This post has been updated to add comment from Bearak and to clarify that Celia Dugger is Bearak's wife.