Clinton Campaign Chair Blames Russia for Email Hack

Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta says the FBI is investigating the hack of his personal email account, and he's placing the blame on Moscow, the Washington Post reports. "This definitely is the first campaign that I've been involved with in which I've had to tangle with Russian intelligence agencies, who seem to be doing everything they can on behalf of our opponent," he says. Further, Podesta claims it's "reasonable" to conclude that "the Trump campaign had advance warning" that WikiLeaks planned to release the hacked emails; he cites an August tweet by longtime Trump associate Roger Stone claiming that "Podesta's time in the barrel" was coming. In other developments:

• Trump would be "dangerous from an international point of view" as president, United Nations human rights chief warned Wednesday. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, a Jordanian prince, said he was not "intent on interfering in any political campaign," but he found some of the Republican's remarks, especially on torture, "deeply unsettling and disturbing," the AP reports. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations has told Zeid that he shouldn't criticize foreign leaders.

• CBS Miami reports that Trump, who says he has been "unshackled" by dozens of leading Republicans turning their backs on him, saved most of his anger for Hillary Clinton instead of fellow GOPers at a Panama City Beach rally Tuesday. "The election of Hillary Clinton would lead to the destruction of our country," he said, addressing the latest email leak.
• Earlier in the day, Trump targeted "weak and ineffective" House Speaker Paul Ryan. Sources tell the Hill that as chief of Breitbart.com, Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon ordered his staff to do everything they could to destroy Ryan, whom he sees as part of an elitist conspiracy to bring in a world government.
• The New York Times reports that as the split within the GOP deepens, the Democrats are doing their best to take advantage, stepping up efforts to regain control of the Senate and possibly even the House. Insiders say that the Clinton campaign now sees Arizona and Georgia as winnable.
• The Guardian reports that President Obama was campaigning for Clinton in North Carolina Tuesday, where he slammed Trump over lewd remarks in a 2005 recording. "The guy says stuff nobody would find tolerable if they were applying for a job at 7-Eleven," Obama said, mocking Republicans who are still standing by him—especially those who think Trump's personality is going to change.
• Politico reports that other Republicans, accusing Trump of trying to undermine the democratic process, have asked him to stop claiming that the election is going to be stolen through widespread voter fraud.
• Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight looks at polling numbers and concludes that Donald Trump is being defeated by women, who are voting against him in nearly every state. Silver has maps showing what it would look like if only men voted—or if only women voted, which would give Clinton a 458 to 80 landslide electoral college win.

(More Donald Trump stories.)