Clinton advisers mulled telling GOP 'Bring a dolly!' for emails

The issue kept sizzling no matter how hard Clinton's team worked to put it behind her since it was exposed

As news broke last year about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, one of her top aides suggested simply releasing all the messages from her time as secretary of state.

The March 4, 2015, exchange is in the latest batch of emails hacked from the accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta published Wednesday by WikiLeaks. That was the day The Associated Press first reported that Clinton had been running a private server inside her home in New York.

Within hours of AP's reporting, Republicans from the House Select Committee on Benghazi quickly issued a subpoena demanding Clinton's emails regarding the deadly 2012 attacks on the US diplomatic compound in Libya.

Adviser Phillipe Reines proposed that Clinton should respond by tweet: "No need for this, happy for you to have what I gave State. If they can't, I will. Bring a dolly!" referring to a moving cart. Clinton lawyer and chief-of-staff Cheryl Mills responded: "Seriously?"

Reines, who had worked for Clinton at the State Department, reiterated that he was serious, though he suggested maybe a campaign spokesman could respond less "flippantly."

Mills appeared to like the idea, at least initially. "Can we implement this in the next hour?"

It never happened.

Instead, Clinton's team waited more than one year as the State Department pored through more than 55,000 pages of Clinton's work-related emails from her time as the nation's top diplomat. And the issue kept bubbling up, no matter how hard Clinton's team worked to put it behind her.

The idea of immediately releasing Clinton's work-related emails in March 2015 may have softened her reputation for prizing secrecy over transparency. But it could have also caused her further legal complications.

Sidestepping the State Department's review would have made them available without any review by national security and other government agencies.

Clinton's campaign said the FBI was investigating who hacked Podesta's email. Podesta has warned the messages posted by WikiLeaks may have been altered or edited to inflict political damage, though he has not pointed to any specific case of this.

US intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches intended to influence the presidential election. The Russians deny involvement.

Podesta's hacked messages offer insight into the various strategies and responses considered by those close to Clinton as they grappled with the political fallout from the Democratic presidential nominee's 2009 decision to use the private server.

The day after AP reported the server was inside Clinton's home, Reines notes that Clinton cleared a tweet saying she has asked State to release her emails. When another aide notes the post had already gotten 1,000 retweets, Podesta jokes: "Good to know people go to bed with their Twitter decks. Sex must be obsolete."