Emails Show Google CEO Cozy With Clinton Campaign

     (CN) — Emails leaked by Wikileaks on Tuesday shed light on the relationship of Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Hillary Clinton's campaign, including his offer to serve as Clinton's "head outside adviser" and advice about where to set up campaign headquarters.
     "I met with Eric Schmidt tonight. As David (Plouffe) reported, he's ready to fund, advise recruit talent, etc., Wasn't pushing to run through one of his existing firms," Clinton campaign chair John Podesta wrote to campaign manager Robby Mook in April 2014.
     Schmidt specifically gave the campaign advice on where to set up its headquarters, suggesting cities with large hiring pools — preferably with a lot young coders.
     "It's important to have a very large hiring pool (such as Chicago or NYC) from which to choose enthusiastic, smart and low-paid permanent employees," Schmidt wrote in an email to core Clinton adviser Cheryl Mills, also in April 2014.
     Schmidt considered Silicon Valley too expensive, but suggested setting up "in outer borough NYC." Clinton's campaign is headquartered in Brooklyn.
     Wikileaks' revelations also indicate that officials from the Clinton campaign used Google's private jet on multiple occasions, with some specifically noting examples of the plane experiencing issues.
     Podesta called Google's jet a "nice way to travel," while Bill Clinton's chief of staff Tina Flournoy wrote: "Yes, until it breaks down in Ethiopia — as it did the last time we used it."
     Tuesday's revelations add to emails released Monday, in which Schmidt provided a broad strategy overview to top campaign officials. He specifically addressed the value of creating centralized voting records and transitioning data to the cloud to streamline future efforts.
     "Key is the development of a single record for a voter that aggregates all that is known about them," Schmidt wrote. "In 2016, smartphones will be used to identify, meet, and update profiles on the voter."

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