The leak of almost 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee has rocked Democratic Party, forcing the resignation of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of the National Convention.
The emails show partiality and communication between the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign, while expressing derision at Bernie Sanders’ campaign.
In one particularly damning email, DNC CFO Brad Marshall floated the idea to target Sanders’ Jewish faith and religious beliefs in order to appeal more to Southern Baptists.
“It might may (sic) no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief,” Marshall said.
“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. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” he continued.
Marshall promptly apologized on his Facebook page saying he “deeply” regrets the “emotional emails.”
Other emails talked about moles inside the Vermont Senator’s campaign, and validated accusations throughout the primary of favoritism towards Clinton by the Democratic party.
Clinton Response
Wikileaks leaked the emails on Friday, July 22, with Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0 taking credit for the leak. The Clinton campaign highlighted the nationality of the hacker, accusing the Russians of helping Donald Trump.
“What’s disturbing to us is that experts are telling us Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails, and other experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually of helping Donald Trump,” said Clinton’s Campaign Manager Robby Mook said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
A couple weeks ago, it was reported that the security firm working for the Clinton campaign, CrowdStrike, issued a report that found two Russian hacking groups—code-named COZY BEAR and FANCY BEAR—broke into the databases independent of one another and did not work in collaboration.
Despite the leak, the Clinton campaign is stressing the theme of unity to oppose the sometimes disjunct and contentious Republican National Convention last week.
Sanders Response
Bernie Sanders, the subject of most of the emails leaked, said he was not surprised by the partiality of the Democratic National Committee, but did not rescind his support for Clinton.
“We’re going to focus on defeating the worst Republican candidate I’ve seen in a lifetime. We’ve got to elect Secretary Clinton,” he said to Chuck Todd Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
He did, however, celebrate the the resignation of Wasserman Schultz after she announced her resignation.
“Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party,” he said in a statement.
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