Wasserman Schultz is under fire after leaked emails showed Democratic National Committee officials discussing ways to help Clinton defeat Sanders in the Democratic primaries. “We know that the voices in this room that are standing up and being disruptive, we know that that’s not the Florida that we know”, she said as the crowd erupted even more.
Advertisement
Gubernatorial hopeful Phil Murphy praised DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s decision to step down Monday morning at a delegate breakfast before the official start of this week’s Democratic National Convention.
The leaks, from January 2015 to May 2016, feature Democratic staffers debating everything from how to deal with challenging media requests to coordinating the committee’s message with other powerful interests in Washington.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook also called the emails “disturbing” and something that “voters need to reflect on”.
Her announcement comes just two days after a batch of leaked internal DNC emails showed evidence that party officials during the primary season had attempted to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton against the insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders.
“I sat in that chair in 2004 trying to navigate all the different candidates we had”, he said.
After his speech, Padilla said the Sanders supporters at the breakfast, and the ones who stopped him in the hallway at the downtown Marriott, should be lauded for their passion. Tim Kaine, who was recently chosen as Clinton’s running mate.
Vivirito said she would either write Sanders’ name in or vote for the Green Party’s Jill Stein – and she’s not the only Sanders supporter considering those options for November. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.
“I’ll do what needs to be done”, Al Simon, a Sanders delegate from Windsor, said when asked about voting for Clinton.
While her role at the DNC has been reduced to something relatively minor, some pro-Clinton Democrats are pushing for Wasserman Schultz to remove herself from the convention entirely.
But Wasserman Schulz’s plans to open the convention Monday afternoon – risking more boos on live television – raised the possibility of further drama. He said the Sanders campaign had not contacted his group to encourage them to not protest.
Wasserman Schultz gamely kept talking amid the boos, mentioning at one point a Florida nightclub shooting that had taken place Sunday night, but the shouts were persistent. Fellow Democrats expected the congresswoman – who came up through local Florida politics with stints in the state House and Senate – to be a sharp communicator and defender of the national party, with a high-profile presence on television. Bernie Sanders have argued that the emails have proven what they’ve been saying all along, that the primary system was stacked against him. She had been a CNN political commentator, but CNN and Brazile have mutually agreed to suspend their contract, effective immediately, although she will remain on air during the convention week in an unpaid capacity, CNN said.
Wasserman Schultz’s abrupt departure was undoubtedly an effort to keep the Democrats’ gathering from devolving into the tumult that marred last week’s Republican National Convention, when runner-up Ted Cruz pointedly and publicly refused to endorse nominee Donald Trump.
Advertisement
“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.
