The Russians are working to elect Trump, Democrats say
— A U.S. election that has already seen its share of drama witnessed a James-Bond-level plot twist Sunday — accusations of Russian meddling in the campaign.
It’s a charge levelled by Democrats as they gather for their convention.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, did a round on the weekly talk shows where he raised the suggestion that Russian actors are looking to undermine her in an attempt to elect Donald Trump.
He pointed to a pattern that includes reports of Russians hacking into the Democratic Party’s servers; the Trump campaign’s business ties to Putin allies; Trump’s words and positions undermining NATO, the European Union and assistance for Ukraine; the compliments back and forth between Trump and Putin; and now the leak of those hacked emails at a moment likeliest to disrupt the Democratic convention.
“What’s disturbing to us is that experts are telling us Russian state actors broke into the (Democratic National Committee), stole these emails and other experts are now saying the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump,” Mook told CNN. “When you put it all together, it’s a disturbing picture. And I think voters need to reflect on that … I don’t think it’s very coincidental that they’re being released at this time — to create maximum damage and help elect Donald Trump.”
He barely touched on the substance of the leaks. The whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks was provided a batch of emails in which supposedly neutral party officials discussed ways to undermine Bernie Sanders.
In one message, someone suggested smearing Sanders’ atheism before Bible-belt primaries. As a Canadian-related aside, the batch included an email from one businessman who said he’d stop donating to the Democratic party, miffed he wasn’t invited to the White House state dinner for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Sanders said the revelations proved his point: The party apparatus was in the tank for Clinton. He called it outrageous, and reiterated his call for reform at the party. Already, party chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been knocked out of the speaking lineup at this week’s Philadelphia convention.
But he made it clear that he’ll remain a team player.
His top short-term priority, he said: “Make sure that Donald Trump — perhaps the worst Republican candidate in the modern history of this country … by temperament, by ideology — must not become president of the United States. I’m going to do everything I can to defeat him, and to elect Hillary Clinton.” As a longer-term priority, Sanders called for electing progressives nationally, statewide, locally and even at the school-board level.
He said Clinton had moved toward aspects of his agenda for helping the working class, including his positions on health care and free tuition at public colleges.
Asked whether he was disappointed in Clinton’s choice of a running mate, he said: “Compared to Donald Trump … on his worst, worst, worst day, Tim Kaine is 100 times better than Donald Trump will ever be.”