Wikileaks reveals Democratic Party officials mocked Sanders campaign

WASHINGTON: Top officials at the Democratic National Committee criticised and mocked Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the primary campaign, even though the organisation publicly insisted that it was neutral in the race, according to committee emails made public by WikiLeaks on Friday.

WikiLeaks posted almost 20,000 emails sent or received by a handful of top committee officials and provided an online tool to search through them. While WikiLeaks did not reveal the source of the leak, the committee said last month that Russian hackers had penetrated its computer system.

Among the emails released on Friday were several embarrassing messages that suggest the committee’s chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and other officials favoured Hillary Clinton over Sanders — a claim the senator made repeatedly during the primary.

The emails appear to bolster Sanders’ claims that the committee did not treat him fairly. His campaign accused the committee of scheduling debates on weekends so fewer people would see them.