USA TODAY International Edition

Democratic chairwoman won’t speak at convention

- Eliza Collins

The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at this week’s convention in Philadelph­ia, according to CNN.

The decision to keep Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz from speaking — though CNN reports she will appear to gavel the convention’s opening and close— follows a dump of emails by WIkileaks from top officials at the DNC that seem to show some top employees were conspiring to hurt the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton’s main rival for the Democratic nomination during the primary campaign.

One email in particular showed a top aide asking if Sanders’ religion could be questioned in an attempt to hurt him with Southern voters.

Another showed Wasserman Schultz calling Sanders’ campaign manager “a damn liar.”

Sanders has long maintained that the DNC was favoring Clinton and has called on Wasserman Schultz to resign and on CNN Sunday he echoed that statement, calling the emails “outrageous” but unsurprisi­ng.

“Well, I think it’s outrageous, but it is not a great shock to me. I think, as I said, it’s what we talked about six months ago. I mean, there’s no question to my mind and I think no question to any objective observer’s mind that the DNC was supporting Hillary Clinton, was in opposition to our campaign. So, I’m not quite shocked by this,” Sanders said. “And that is why many, many months ago, I made it clear that I thought Debbie Wasserman Schultz should resign, should step down, not only because of the prejudice I think they showed during the campaign, but also because I think we need a new leadership of the Democratic Party.”

“I am not an atheist. But aside from all of that, I mean, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying the function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates, to be fair and evenminded,” he added.

Republican National Committee Chairmain Reince Priebus spoke at the Republican convention last week.

The DNC and Clinton campaigns did not immediatel­y respond to request for confirmati­on.

 ?? JASON BEHNKEN, EPA ?? Wasserman Schultz
JASON BEHNKEN, EPA Wasserman Schultz
 ?? JASON BEHNKEN EPA ?? Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks to the crowd during a campaign stop for Hillary Clinton at the Florida State Fairground­s Entertainm­ent Hall in Tampa.
JASON BEHNKEN EPA Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks to the crowd during a campaign stop for Hillary Clinton at the Florida State Fairground­s Entertainm­ent Hall in Tampa.

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