The newest batch of John Podesta emails from WikiLeaks shows President Barack Obama’s transition team kept lists of Muslim and Asian candidates for administration jobs.
The 2008 emails show Podesta was sent lists of Muslims and Asians to be considered for White House jobs, with Arab Christians excluded or relegated to a separate list.
In the email exchange, an aide wrote, “In the candidates for top jobs, I excluded those with some Arab American background but who are not Muslim (e.g., George Mitchell). Many Lebanese Americans, for example, are Christian. In the last list (of outside boards/commissions), most who are listed appear to be Muslim American, except that a handful (where noted) may be Arab American but of uncertain religion (esp. Christian).”
Also notable, there was concern that some of the Muslims suggested would not survive media scrutiny, with one aide writing, “High-profile Muslim Americans tend to be the subject of a fair amount of blogger criticism, and so the individuals on this list would need to be ESPECIALLY carefully vetted.”
The aide added, “I suspect some of the people I list would not survive such a vet—but I do personally know, at least in part, virtually all of the candidates in the 1st two categories (but I know very few of those listed for outside boards/commissions).”
The emails show an administration obsessed with gender, race and religion. Within the lists themselves, candidates were further categorized by their nationality, sex and sometimes race.
Another Wikileaks release showed the Obama transition team keeping lists of non-white candidates for administration posts. {eoa}
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