Hacked emails publicize DNC hostility to Sanders
WASHINGTON — A cache of over 19,000 emails from Democratic officials, leaked in advance of Hillary Clinton’s nomination at the party’s convention in Philadelphia this week, details the acrimony between the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s former rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Several emails posted by WikiLeaks on its document disclosure website show DNC officials scoffing at Sanders and his supporters and in one instance questioning his commitment to his Jewish faith.
Although WikiLeaks’ posting of the emails did not disclose the identity of who provided the private material, those knowledgeable about the breach said last month that Russian hackers had penetrated the DNC computer system.
At the time, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said a private contractor hired to sweep the organization’s network had “moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders.”
On its website, WikiLeaks said the new cache of emails came from the accounts of “seven key figures in the DNC” and warned the release was “part one of our new Hillary Leaks series.” Among the officials whose emails were made public were DNC spokesman Luis Miranda, National Finance Director Jordan Kaplan and Finance Chief of Staff Scott Comer, WikiLeaks said.
The emails include several stinging denunciations of Sanders and his organization before and after the DNC briefly shut off his campaign’s access to the party’s key list of likely Democratic voters.
The DNC temporarily curtailed Sanders’ access to the list in December 2015
because the organization accused the insurgent campaign of illegally tapping into confidential voter information compiled by the Clinton campaign. The Sanders campaign briefly sued the DNC, but the party reached an accord with Sanders and the suit was dropped in April.
The emails show that after the furor over the voter records was resolved, hostility to the Sanders campaign simmered among top DNC officials.
In mid-May emails with Miranda, his deputy, Mark Paustenbach, questioned whether the DNC should use the voter record furor to raise doubts about the Sanders campaign.
“Wondering if there’s a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never had his act together, that his campaign was a mess,” Paustenbach wrote.
Miranda spurned the idea, although he agreed with Paustenbach’s take: “True, but the Chair has been advised not to engage.”
The same month, in another email to DNC officials, another official identified only as “Marshall” said of Sanders: “Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps.”
The Associated Press emailed Miranda, Paustenbach and DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall, but they were not available for comment.
Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said Saturday that the emails show “there were certainly people at the DNC who were actively helping the Clinton effort and trying to hurt Bernie Sanders’ campaign.”