“I want to support Bernie, but I also want to voice my displeasure with the Democratic Party”. Then, in an extraordinary scene Wednesday night, the convention hall broke out into jeers as former presidential candidate Ted Cruz refused to explicitly endorse Trump during his prime-time speech.
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“We can’t tell people what to do”.
“Donald Trump may think America’s in decline, but he’s wrong”.
The remarks were met with boos and grumbling from supporters clearly not ready to give up the fight for what he calls his “political revolution”.
It was unclear whether the resignation Sunday of party chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz would be enough to unite the party behind Hillary Clinton. The Florida congresswoman was greeted with boos Monday morning by delegates who would certainly have repeated the spectacle.
It came at a crucial moment for Clinton’s campaign, on the heels of leaked emails suggesting that the party had favored the former secretary of state through the primaries despite a vow of neutrality.
It was unclear whether Wasserman Schultz would have a speaking role at the convention.
“Many people are uncomfortable with this whole FBI thing”, Schreiner said, referring to the bureau’s investigation into Clinton’s email practices.
“Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors”, she said in the keynote address.
Clinton campaign officials blamed the hack, which is now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Russian military intelligence agencies. They said, ‘We’re with you.
But I just – you know- it is beneath the character of the kind of dialogue we should have.
Trump dismissed the suggestion in a tweet: “The joke in town is that Russian Federation leaked the disastrous DNC emails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me”.
It wasn’t immediately clear how WikiLeaks got the emails.
Democrats have known about the hack since April, when party officials discovered malicious software on their computers.
A cybersecurity firm the Democrats employed found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on their network – both of which have ties to the Russian government.
Those hacks vacuumed up at least a year’s worth of chats, emails and research on Trump, according to a person knowledgeable about the breach who wasn’t authorized to discuss it publicly.
The swing comes days after Clinton tapped Sen.
The party announced Monday it would kick off its convention with speeches from some of its most popular figures.
She and others spoke at a morning news conference in downtown Philadelphia hours before Sanders was to meet with the delegates.
Sanders joined a high-wattage lineup of speakers, including first lady Michelle Obama who made a forceful, impassioned case for the Democratic nominee. GOP nominee Donald Trump declared on Twitter: “The Dems Convention is cracking up”.
More than 50 remain uncommitted. But others were falling in line behind Clinton.
While Kaine may beef up the ticket’s foreign policy experience, he does have issues with some policies Clinton supports, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But the decision to make such a permanent political statement was about “way more than Bernie Sanders”, she says. “I wouldn’t vote for her for dog catcher”, said Melissa Arab of Shelby Township, Michigan.
Ahead of her speech, she secured endorsement of retired Gen. John Allen, former deputy commander of U. S. Central Command and a former commander of the International Security Assistance Force, overseeing North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops in Afghanistan.
Clinton is within just days of her long-held ambition to become the party’s official presidential nominee. She will formally accept the nomination on Thursday.
“This election and every election is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives”, Ms. Obama said on the opening night of the Democratic convention.
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President Bill Clinton, watching from the audience, leapt to his feet and applauded, as did most of the delegates filling the convention arena.
