House Democratic campaign chief Ben Ray Luján confirmed Monday that providing funding for outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in her looming Florida primary won’t be a priority. Trump in a tweet said she was “overrated”.
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On Sunday, Sanders said the emails were disappointing, and called for the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Bernie Sanders tried to calm tensions among his delegates Monday at the Democratic National Convention but some weren’t in a listening mood, seething over a lengthy primary campaign and a damaging email disclosure.
In a statement, Wasserman Schultz says she still plans to fulfill her duties formally opening and closing the convention in Philadelphia.
“We know that the voices in this room that are standing up and being disruptive – we know that that’s not the Florida we know”, she told the crowd.
On Sunday, Clinton said in a statement that she was appointing Wasserman Schultz as “honorary chair of my campaign’s 50-state program”. “Man, I don’t want her covering my back, I’ll tell you that”. She has led legislation to provide assistance to Holocaust survivors and was considered a must-have by both sides in last year’s debate over the Iran nuclear deal precisely because of her prominence in the Jewish community.
The respected, non-partisan Cook Political Report still shows Wasserman Schultz as a “solid” pick to win reelection.
Luis Miranda, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said on Twitter that party Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile, a longtime Democratic leader and operative, will serve as interim chair through the election.
She said she asked Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, secretary of the DNC, to open the convention at 4 p.m. Monday.
They were protesting leaked DNC emails that suggest Wasserman Schultz’s staff favored Hillary Clinton over Sanders during the presidential primary. “So I think when you put it all together, it’s a disturbing picture”, he said.
Wasserman Schultz’s role at the convention had already been reduced, with a speaking role and later even the simple task of gaveling the convention in and out of session taken away.
That truce appears to still be in effect despite the revelations in the DNC emails, as Sanders declined Sunday to urge his supporters to support another option, like Green Party candidate Jill Stein. “I look forward to serving as a surrogate for her campaign in Florida and across the country to ensure her victory”, Debbie wrote in a statement.
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Democratic Party officials learned in late April that their systems had been attacked after they discovered malicious software on their computers.
