It was unclear whether the efforts would succeed. She should have resigned fully before becoming a bigger distraction.
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People waving signs emblazoned with the word “email” were booing and shouting at Wasserman Schultz as she took the stage Monday as a featured speaker. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive favorite, would deliver the convention keynote.
But she appears to already have another position in politics: as an “honorary chair” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign. GOP nominee Donald Trump declared on Twitter: “The Dems Convention is cracking up”.
Gathering for their convention in Philadelphia, Democrats struggled to shake lingering bitterness among supporters of defeated rival Bernie Sanders and dealt with the aftermath of a leadership shakeup at the top.
“Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays”, Sanders wrote. Her role in the convention itself has also been significantly scaled back.
Wasserman Schultz stepping down from the post job removes a potential source of friction just as the convention begins on Monday.
The Florida congresswoman’s resignation is effective later this week, though she also stepped down from her official convention duties.
Police escorted her off stage.
Sanders was a relatively unknown Vermont senator when he chose to challenge for the Democratic nomination. Clinton was due to campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday.
“The current state of affairs is a needless persecution of someone who has always been described as “… beloved by the Democratic rank and file for her aggressive, outspoken advocacy for liberal points of view”.
The Sanders delegates from NY are holding a special meeting Monday morning. He implored them to vote for Clinton, generating a chorus of boos.
“I sat in that chair in 2004 trying to navigate all the different candidates we had”, he said. “Trump is a bully and a demagogue”.
“I have a lot of admiration for her but she understands that for party unity it’s appropriate that she step aside and that we not be distracted”, said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat who supported Clinton.
“I can’t say what is going to definitely happen, there is just a general feeling of unease and unhappiness and distrust”, said Maggie Kain, a Sanders delegate from Rhode Island.
Emails were apparently leaked from seven DNC officials’ accounts, though CNN was not able to independently verify their authenticity.
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“I know that electing Hillary Clinton as our next president is critical for America’s future”, Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “But if you had people in there who were trashing one of the candidates, I can tell you this, if I were still chairman, they wouldn’t be working there”. Trump dismissed the suggestion in a tweet: “The joke in town is that Russian Federation leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me”. That cybersecurity firm found traces of the material passing through Russian computers, as well as markers of coding that have previously been identified with Russian intelligence cyber operations. Those hackers took at least a year’s worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
