While the allegations that Sanders’ campaign improperly exploited a breach in the Democratic National Committee voter database kicked off the third Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, it wasn’t the issue the defined it. Candidates spent most of the night engaged in an extensive conversation about foreign policy and national security. “Our staff did the wrong thing”, Sanders said before apologizing to Clinton on Saturday night.
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“This is not the type of campaign that we run”. Clinton, who had been staring icily at Sanders as he spoke, refrained from criticizing her rival, saying that the campaigns should move on. While the Sanders campaign admitted the breach – and attributed it to a low-level staffer – the campaign lashed out at the DNC’s decision to block Sanders’ access to the entire system in response.
Sanders filed a 12-page lawsuit against the DNC to regain access to the data on Friday.
The Sanders campaign also suspended two staffers in connection with the breach, a campaign spokesman said after the ABC debate, following the firing of its top data director after reports of the incident surfaced late on Thursday.
Clinton said she wanted to “build on the successes” of the law, including helping people with preexisting conditions find coverage plans and allowing children to stay on their parents’ plans until they are 26 years old. “We just heard that most families haven’t had a wage increase since 2001, since the end of the last Clinton administration”. Rather than wait for the former Secretary of State before starting the second half of the debate, moderator David Muir barreled ahead with a question about the US economy.
When the broadcast returned, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was seen walking back to his podium, Sen.
The Democratic National Committee maintains a trove of voter information.
Clinton thanked Sanders for the apology, saying her campaign was distressed to hear about the data breach as it had worked hard to compile its information on voters.
Data and IT are uncomfortable topics for Clinton, who was the center of an uproar after it was revealed that she used a personal email account while serving as secretary of state.
Pressed on whether his campaign had stolen data, Sanders apologized to Clinton and to his supporters. And at 52, O’Malley is a generation younger than Clinton and Sanders – something of which he reminded viewers.
While Sanders’ defended Americans’ right to purchase guns, he agreed that the federal government should move on policies where there is a broad consensus of support, like stronger instant background checks. His campaign also fired a staffer for peeking at Clinton campaign information.
The Sanders campaign has now complied with the DNC’s request to provide the information that we have requested of them.
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Sanders’ campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said it was not the first time the technology company has dropped the firewall.
