Podesta to Tom Steyer in leaked email: ‘I didn’t expect to get f—ed by you’

Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta complained last year to a billionaire environmental donor that he “f—ed” the campaign with a litmus test for support.

Tom Steyer, the activist who leads NextGen Climate, had announced in June 2015 that his group would only spend money on presidential candidates who made specific clean energy pledges.

{mosads}“I am deep in the middle of dealing with getting f—ed by the NYT [New York Times], but I didn’t expect to get f—ed by you in the NYT,” Podesta wrote to Steyer, according to emails released Friday by WikiLeaks, which says the message was stolen from Podesta’s email account.

“Thanks a lot for jumping us. I hope President Bush helps you reach your climate goals,” he wrote, suggesting that Jeb Bush — at the time the leading candidate for the Republican nomination — would win.

Podesta seems to be referring to a New York Times report that day in which Steyer said that in order to get NextGen’s support, a candidate would have to present a plan to get half of the country’s electricity from zero-carbon sources by 2030 and 100 percent of it by 2050.

That litmus test did not appear to sit well with Podesta. But Steyer wasn’t fazed, citing research to back up his point that it is important politically and scientifically.

“Check the polling we released,” Steyer told Podesta. “This is very popular w the American people. And then check the scientific news. This issue is blowing up. It is by far the most urgent issue in my home state. 48 percent rank it at number 1.”

The Clinton campaign has refused to comment on specific messages released by WikiLeaks or confirm their authenticity.

NextGen declined to comment about the email chain as well, though in a statement Steyer had kind words for Podesta.

“I think no one has had a greater positive impact on our climate progress in this administration except President Obama. I think John is a person of the very highest intellect and integrity,” he said.

Steyer and Podesta have been close for years, and Podesta used to formally advise the billionaire. Previously released emails show that Podesta pushed Obama’s aides in 2008 to consider Steyer to lead the Department of Energy.

A month after Steyer announced his litmus test, Clinton released her clean-energy platform, which her campaign said fit Steyer’s standard. Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, the other major contenders for the Democratic nomination at the time, also abided.

Steyer waited until June 2016 to formally endorse Clinton for president, though he raised money for her before then. NextGen has spent millions of dollars since then on advertising, canvassing, voter turnout and other efforts supporting Clinton.