A curator's index of the 14 Podesta threads most frequently cited in the post-WikiLeaks speculation cycle. Jump straight to the original documents — read the context for yourself, without the take attached.
Emails where food references — pizza, walnut sauce, cheese, dominos — read as coded in ways most domestic correspondence does not.
"realtor found a handkerchief (I think it has a map that seems pizza-related)"
Susan Sandler asks whether John left behind "a handkerchief (I think it has a map that seems pizza-related)." The phrasing — map, handkerchief, pizza — has become the single most-quoted Podesta email outside of the Comet threads.
Open thread"Our pizza logo"
Tony Podesta forwards a graphic referred to as "our pizza logo" — later identified as artwork associated with Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis.
Open thread"walnut sauce"
John Podesta to Herb Sandler on "walnut sauce" — nominally Ligurian cuisine. Read alongside the companion "Can you send me walnut sauce recipe" thread below, the subject became a flashpoint of the 2016 speculation.
Open thread"Can you send me walnut sauce recipe"
Tony Podesta asking John to send him the walnut sauce recipe — the sibling thread to John's exchange with Herb Sandler.
Open thread"Using the Podesta method, she made up the rules as we went along"
Herb Sandler writes: "Susan whipped Sherry and me at Dominos. Using the Podesta method, she made up the rules as we went along." Cited in nearly every Pizzagate article written in late 2016.
Open thread"Cheese"
The cryptic one-word subject line that, in the context of the rest of the corpus, became part of the speculation lexicon.
Open threadThe Alefantis / Comet Ping Pong thread: fundraisers, pizza parties, and the business-owner-turned-national-conspiracy-figure writing directly to the Clinton campaign chairman.
"hosting an Obama Fundraiser at Comet Ping Pong on Thursday Night"
James Alefantis invites John Podesta to a fundraiser at his pizza-and-ping-pong restaurant on 2008 debate night. The earliest document tying Podesta, Alefantis, and Comet together in the dump.
Open thread"My only regret is I did not make you a nice pizza"
James Alefantis to John Podesta after the 2012 election: "My only regret is I did not make you a nice pizza." A line that — in hindsight — fed directly into the 2016 conspiracy narrative.
Open thread"Third chef at Tony's was James Alefantis, Owner, Buck's Fishing & Camping; Comet Ping Pong"
Milia Fisher (HFA) confirms that the "third chef at Tony's" for the foodie fundraiser was James Alefantis — Comet Ping Pong's owner, cooking for a Hillary campaign event.
Open threadFull briefing memo for the "Cooking w/ Fratelli Podesta" fundraiser where Alefantis was one of the featured chefs. The operational paperwork behind the association.
Open thread"Hosting pizza party at Belmont for HFA on April 10"
Tony Podesta to John, March 2016: hosting a pizza party at Belmont for Hillary For America on April 10. Plain-English confirmation of the pizza-as-fundraising-motif inside the inner circle.
Open threadMarina Abramović's "spirit cooking" dinner invitation and surrounding threads — one of the three pillars of the October 2016 WikiLeaks story cycle.
"Marina wants you to come to dinner"
Tony Podesta forwards Marina Abramović's personal dinner invitation to John and Mary — the email that introduced the world to the phrase "spirit cooking" in October 2016.
Open threadA second Abramović thread — further confirmation of the social orbit between the performance artist and the Podesta brothers during the campaign.
Open threadLines that wouldn't raise an eyebrow in isolation, and became canonical once the rest of the corpus dropped.
"I'm dreaming about your hotdog stand in Hawaii"
State Department climate envoy Todd Stern to John Podesta, September 2015: "I'm dreaming about your hotdog stand in Hawaii..." The closest the corpus gets to the oft-quoted "hot dog" motif that fuelled the later speculation.
Open thread