Hillary Clinton’s campaign investigated claim Russia was trying to POISON her via Trump handshake, new book claims
- The Clinton team was alerted to a ‘tip’ before the third presidential debate with Clinton
- That contest featured Clinton calling Trump a “puppet” of Putin.
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband failed to warn Russians might try to poison Clinton via Trump handshake, writes Maggie Haberman
- Attendees immediately poked holes in the idea.
- But a top assistant ‘checked it out’ according to the book, Confidence Man
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign received a rare warning about a possible Russian attempt to poison her during her third debate with Donald Trump, and her team reportedly investigated it.
The alleged threat came in October 2016 from Richard Blum, the wealthy husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, although his source was later revealed to be extremely scant, in a bizarre episode recounted in the new book. by Maggie Haberman, Confidence Man. Blum died in February.
“During preparations for the third debate, Hillary Clinton’s team was interrupted by a warning from the husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said he had been told the Russians might try to poison Clinton through a handshake with Trump, inflicting a dramatic health episode during the debate,’ writes Haberman.
The husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) relayed information about a warning that the Russians might try to poison the former secretary. of State Hillary Clinton during her third presidential debate with Donald Trump
The debate came amid an intense focus on Russia, following the DNC hack and just days after WikiLeaks began publishing hacked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The debate itself included several jabs at Russia.
Trump fielded repeated questions during the campaign about connections between his advisers and Russia. He called for the US and Russia to “get along” and then fumed about the origins of the Russia investigation and the “dirty dossier” financed in part by the Clinton campaign.
During the third debate, Trump would say that Putin “does not respect her.” She has no respect for our president,’ prompting Clinton to reply, ‘I would rather have a puppet for president of the United States.’
Trump replied to Clinton that ‘you are the puppet!’ He then added, “She doesn’t like Putin because Putin has cheated her every step of the way.”
It also followed a series of Russia-related poisonings, including the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England, with a nerve agent in 2018.
But Clinton did not take the threat seriously, according to Haberman, in an episode recounted in the Washington Post.
Trump and Clinton clashed over Russia and Vladimir Putin during the debate, but the poison warning quickly fell apart.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was under scrutiny at the time.
Current White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who was advising Clinton, raised a strategy issue that severely undermined the warning: How could Trump poison Clinton without hurting himself?
The warning came two years after Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, and his daughter were poisoned in Salisbury, England.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s book Confidence Man will hit shelves on October 4, just a month before the 2022 midterm elections.
Current White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who was advising Clinton at the time, raised a serious objection: how could Trump poison Clinton in such a scenario without hurting himself?
The televised debate also took place in a high-security venue packed with Secret Service agents, audience members and members of the media.
‘Your communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, took the perspective seriously enough to check it out; the warning turned out to be mere speculation by a historian with no knowledge of Russian plans,” Haberman writes.
The episode is recounted in Haberman’s book Trump, which is published Tuesday.
