Wikileaks: Huma Abedin Schedules Hillary Debate Prep Around ‘Body Clock’

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton pauses while speaking during a fundraiser
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Huma Abedin, top aide to Hillary Clinton, says that “evening is probably better on body clock” as her campaign staff schedules a debate prep session, according to the latest Wikileaks release of messages from John Podesta’s purported email accounts.

Abedin — a longtime aide and confidant to Clinton and now vice chairwoman of her 2016 presidential campaign — jumps into an email thread on Sunday, October 11, 2015, discussing the time frame of a second day of debate prep in New York. In two days, Clinton will participate in the first Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Staffer Lona Valmoro writes Saturday evening that a session scheduled to start at 1:00 PM Sunday was moved up to 12:30 PM. The next day, Valmora sends an update: “HRC would like to see everyone for another session from approximately 6:00pm-9:00pm. While a session from 3:30pm-5:00pm is unlikely now, please don’t book that time with anything else until we circle back with you. TY!”

Ron Klain, former Chief of Staff to Joe Biden and “Ebola Czar” in the Obama Administration, asks Valmora, “That’s all Las Vegas time?”

Abedin replies: “All Las Vegas time.” She then suggests a change from the 6-9 PM session that Clinton requested, apparently to accommodate the candidate’s “body clock.”

“We have an event in the window that she originally suggested,” Abedin writes. “Evening is probably better on body clock too, no? That was part of our thinking.”

Despite these concerns, Clinton likely over-prepared for the debate — as her main competitors Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley carried water for the former Secretary of State rather than attacking her on vulnerable issues.

The Associated Press wrote of Sanders’ infamous dismissal of Clinton’s private email server investigation:

Sanders passed on the chance to pounce on his political rival’s Achilles’ heel in the Democratic debate Tuesday night. He says he knows it may not be good politics, but “the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”

Clinton and the crowd cheered the moment. She turned to Sanders, shook his hand and said, “Thank you, Bernie.”

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley awkwardly gave a shoutout to then-DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as he recited a talking point about why the party should not talk about Clinton’s unsecured homebrew email server from which she conducted 100% of her State Department business.

Wasserman Schultz abruptly resigned from her position as the Democratic National Convention kicked off in July of 2016, after Wikileaks released emails showing that she and top DNC staffers were helping Clinton and sabotaging Sanders during the primary — even weighing plans to go after his Jewish ancestry to curb his support.

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