Wikileaks released 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee on Friday, showing a strong bias against Bernie Sanders for president.
Supplied by Guccifer 2.0, who previously released batches of DNC emails and documents, the new leak is “Part One” of a series dubbed the “Hillary Leaks.” Included are emails sent and received by top DNC staffers such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has previously been accused of heavy bias on the side of Hillary Clinton, national press secretary Mark Paustenbach, and communications director Luis Miranda.
In one notable correspondence, DNC CFO Brad Marshall suggests that someone should ask Bernie Sanders if he is an atheist, in order to exploit a potential weakness:
From:MARSHALL@dnc.org
To: MirandaL@dnc.org, PaustenbachM@dnc.org, DaceyA@dnc.org
Date: 2016-05-05 03:31
Subject: No shit
It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. 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.
When Marshall was questioned by The Intercept about the above email, he said: “I do not recall this. I can say it would not have been Sanders. It would probably be about a surrogate.”
Sanders isn’t mentioned by name, but is the only Jewish candidate from either party.
In other email chains, Luis Miranda briefs reporters with news outlets like Politico and the Wall Street journal. In the email chain he offers to point out issues with Sanders’ DNC committee appointments “off the record” to which the reporter, Politico’s Daniel Strauss, responds that he wants him to send the list of appointments “with no fingerprints attached.”
A different Politico reporter, Ken Vogel, allowed the DNC to pre-screen and edit at least one of his stories before it went to his editor’s.
In separate emails the DNC is shown to have worked closely with Clinton’s campaign over scandals involving her. Most notably, after the Clinton campaign was accused of funneling money meant for down-ballot Democratic candidates back to her own campaign, the DNC drafted talking points for them and helped do damage control with the media.
Debbie Wasserman Shultz is caught in one email calling Clinton the “presumptive nominee” (before the primaries were over) while claiming Bernie Sanders was “never […] a member of the Democratic Party and has no understanding of what we do.”
Still more emails show Debbie Wasserman Schultz and others discussing how to break down Sanders’ position on Israel/Palestine, with many of them suggesting that the DNC staff was actively working with the Clinton campaign to create attack strategies against Sanders’ stance on the issue.
Washerman Schultz also doesn’t hesitate to proclaim that Sanders “isn’t going to be president.”
You can read an additional breakdown of several other questionable emails the DNC doesn’t want you to see over at US Uncut.
Although Article 5, Section 4 of the charter and bylaws of the DNC requires the chair of the party to remain impartial during the primary process, this rule is clearly being violated not just by Wasserman Schultz, but by the party as a whole.
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