Outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz won’t open her party’s convention, following a chaotic scene earlier in the day at a meeting of Florida Democratic delegates where she was loudly jeered by Bernie Sanders supporters.
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While her role at the convention this week may be reduced, Wasserman Schultz has made it clear that she does not intend to shy away from the campaign trail.
On Monday morning, at a Florida delegation breakfast, Wasserman Schultz was met with a chorus of boos from Sanders supporters.
As for those actually involved in the email: Marshall, the DNC official who wrote the email, issued an apology on Facebook this weekend, prior to Wasserman Schultz’s resignation.
United States officials suspect the email dump is the work of Russian hackers who were discovered in DNC servers earlier this year, and experts believe the coordinated release of the documents on the eve of the convention are an effort by Moscow to meddle in the U.S. presidential election.
With the Democratic National Convention about to get underway in Philadelphia, there was widespread belief that it would be best for Wasserman Schultz to exit swiftly in order to help the party move on as fast as possible from the unflattering distraction.
But party disunity also seems to be a factor in Philadelphia, given Sanders’ demands for a new leader and general unhappiness among his many supporters about how the nomination process unfolded.
For Clinton, it was a turbulent start to a historic four-day gathering that will culminate in the nomination of the first woman to lead a major USA political party. “And she still wants to speak!”
DNC Vice Chair Donna Brazile, a veteran Democratic strategist who will lead the party on an interim basis after the convention, warned more leaked emails, and more apologies, could be coming.
“How about that for disloyalty in terms of Hillary Clinton”. He also suggested that Clinton’s choice of running mate, Virginia Sen.
But Sanders maintained that his support for Clinton is strong, saying his immediate message to his supporters now is that “disastrous” Donald Trump must be defeated.
Confused about the Democratic National Committee email scandal? Still many delegates, and Sanders himself, said they planned to fall in line, mindful of the Republican alternative.
“We’re supposed to be a party for the people, We’re not seeing that, we’re seeing some people”, Alezander said.
“We don’t have information right now about that, but what we have is a kind of bromance going on between Vladimir Putin and Trump which is distinct from this leak”, Clinton adviser John Podesta said in an MSNBC interview.
One email appears to show DNC staffers asking how they can reference Sanders’ faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters. Nor is there any evidence that she knew about the emails or that anyone at the DNC acted on them.
Clinton wrote in a release, “I look forward to campaigning with Debbie in Florida and helping her in her re-election bid – because as president, I will need fighters like Debbie in Congress who are ready on day one to get to work for the American People”.
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Wasserman Schultz is expected to step down at the end of the convention. “The shouting reminded me of 1968 when all the protests occurred then”, he said.
