Democratic division, emails roil party on convention Day 1
WASHINGTON: The Democratic convention to crown Hillary Clinton as nominee started on Monday under the shadow of leaked organisational emails that caused the resignation of the party’s chair.
The party moved swiftly to contain damage from the leaks that showed party officials sided with Clinton in the primaries against her major, and then the only, rival Bernie Sanders.
Russia’s intelligence agencies were accused of obtaining the emails by hacking into the Democratic party’s computer network, and releasing them to WikiLeaks.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the nature and scope of the cyber intrusion, the agency said on Monday.
Clinton campaign manager Roby Mook cited “experts” to allege in multiple TV interviews that “this was done by the Russians for the purpose of helping (Republican candidate) Donald Trump".
The Trump campaign pushed back, calling the allegations “absurd”, and tried to goad Sanders and his supporters into retaliating, which seemed unlikely to happen.
Sanders said in a television interview he was not surprised as he had long known the party machinery was working against him. He said he had demanded the resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz a long time ago for the reason. And with her resignation, the issue stood resolved, he added.
Sanders has appeared satisfied with issues his campaign forced the Democratic party, and Clinton, to adopt, such as higher daily wages, free college education and opposition to trade deals.