Longtime Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile will step in as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee following the resignation of Florida U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Sunday.
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At least one thing is clear: The email uproar is an unwelcome distraction at the launch of the Democratic National Convention, inflaming the rift between supporters of Hillary Clinton and primary rival Bernie Sanders just when the party was hoping to close it.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a Clinton backer, sought to heal some of the division with a prime-time speech that hit on many issues Bernie Sanders advocated during the primary, including economic inequality.
“A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace”, it said.
Although the commission’s final report – due in 2018, two years before the next presidential election – would still need to be approved by the full Democratic National Committee, the Sanders campaign is confident in the process.
Resistance to Clinton was on display during a demonstration Sunday as many thronged to a main thoroughfare and chanted, “Hell no, DNC, we won’t vote for Hillary”.
“I think the fact that she has made the decision to do this shows that everybody is about working toward showing a united front – not just showing it, but being intentional about it, and working to get Hillary elected”. “And there seems to be an unwillingness on the part of the Nevada Democratic Party to bring in all of the new people that Bernie Sanders has brought into the process”. He has also asked Convention attendees not to protest on the arena floor.
“It could threaten their agreement”, one Democrat said, referring to the deal reached between Clinton and Sanders about the convention, delegates and the DNC.
Some Wasserman Schultz supporters tried to quiet the protesters so they could hear the chairwoman’s speech, which touched on the recent shootings in Fort Myers, Florida.
The drama played out on an oppressively hot day in Philadelphia that gave way to violent storms in the evening that included torrential rain, lightening and high winds that forced the evacuation of the media filing center.
The Democratic National Convention was set to kick off Monday as a week of optimistic celebration with high-powered elected officials and celebrities re-introducing Clinton to a general election audience.
“Realistically she’ll come 45 minutes late anyways”, Shapiro quipped. Still many delegates, and Sanders himself, said they planned to fall in line, mindful of the Republican alternative.
“It’s not over until the votes are counted”, Netherton said. But supporters of Bernie Sanders shouted at her during her brief remarks to the breakfast.
Wasserman Schultz’s abrupt departure was undoubtedly an effort to keep the Democrats’ gathering from devolving into the tumult that marred last week’s GOP meeting, when runner-up Ted Cruz pointedly and publicly refused to endorse nominee Donald Trump.
The Times reported, “Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, argued on ABC’s “This Week” that the emails were leaked “by the Russians for the objective of helping Donald Trump citing ‘experts” but offering no other evidence”.
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Even before these hacked emails surfaced online, Schultz had already made herself the target of Sanders supporters’ ire, having always been perceived as an ardent Hillary fan determined to sabotage the Vermont senator’s long-shot chance at securing the Democratic presidential nomination.
