Wikileaks: Clinton's campaign manager called for extradition of MN dentist accused of killing Cecil the Lion

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta urged a New York Times columnist who had previously been jailed in Zimbabwe to push for Cecil the Lion's killer extradition back to Zimbabwe.

According to an email posted by the website Wikileaks, Podesta wrote a note to Barry Bearak, a former New York Times reporter and columnist, about the famous lion killed by a Minnesota dentist last year.

"As the only person anyone knows who has spent time in a Zimbabwe jail, you should pen an oped calling for his killer's extradition," he wrote to Bearak. "What an a--hole."

Bearak spent five days in a Zimbabwe jail in 2008 covering the election of Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe prisons have a reputation for being filthy, rodent-infested and lacking adequate food.

This week, Wikileaks has posted tens of thousands of emails from Podesta and other Clinton campaign officials. The Obama administration has accused the Russian government of ordering the hack and trying to influence U.S. elections.

It is unclear whether Bearak wrote Podesta back.

Cecil the Lion's death grabbed international headlines last year after it was revealed he was shot by Twin Cities marksman Walter Palmer. Cecil was a main tourist attraction for the country and was part of an Oxford University conservation project. He was named an animal of the year by Time Magazine posthumously.

Palmer never faced any local or U.S. federal charges, though officials at the Fish and Wildlife Service say they continue to look into the killing. Palmer says he was apart of an organized hunt and had a guide and didn't know the lion was famous. He has resumed his dental practice in Eden Prairie.

The Clinton campaign declined to comment.