Former Clinton campaign chairman defends brother after Trump Twitter attack

Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman fired back at President Trump on Wednesday after Trump questioned why no charges were brought against his brother, who was employed by a lobbying firm involved in the now-shuttered Mueller investigation.

John Podesta tweeted Wednesday that the Justice Department under Trump himself had cleared his brother, Tony Podesta, of wrongdoing, while taking aim at former Trump associate Roger Stone, who is due to be sentenced for seven convictions including lying to investigators.

“What happened? YOUR Justice Department closed the case because, unlike your pal Roger Stone, my brother didn’t lie to Congress, intimidate a witness, and obstruct a federal investigation,” Podesta wrote.

What happened? YOUR Justice Department closed the case because, unlike your pal Roger Stone, my brother didn’t lie to Congress, intimidate a witness, and obstruct a federal investigation. https://t.co/KR8wkDxxtF

— John Podesta (@johnpodesta) February 12, 2020

His tweet came in response to Trump’s, which questioned why “nothing ever happen[ed] to him, only to the ‘other’ side?”

Whatever happened to Hillary campaign manager Podesta’s BROTHER? Wasn’t he caught, forced to leave his firm, with BIG BAD things to happen? Why did nothing ever happen to him, only to the “other” side?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2020

Tony Podesta was forced to leave his lobbying group after it was revealed by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to have been hired by Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Manafort hired the group to represent a nonprofit that turned out to be controlled by the then-president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.

Manafort was eventually charged with numerous financial crimes, though Tony Podesta and his lobbying group were never charged. Politico reported that Tony Podesta said in September that he was no longer under investigation after Mueller passed off the investigation to prosecutors in New York.

Tony Podesta did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill on the president’s tweet.