On Friday, WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 emails from top members of the Democratic National Committee, corresponding to the beginning of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Penn. The leak, which is a part of WikiLeaks’ “Hillary Leaks series,” revealed some damning evidence suggesting that high-ranking DNC officials strongly favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, and even tried to sabotage his campaign. Here’s what you need to know about the newest emails that are damaging Hillary’s campaign, who may have leaked them and the fallout voters can expect.
The Emails Said Bernie “Isn’t Going To Be President”
According to The New York Times, some of the emails revealed top DNC officials deriding and minimizing Bernie’s campaign. In one email exchange, Luis Miranda, the communications director for the DNC, asked chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz if the committee should complain about CNN airing a segment on Bernie saying he wanted to remove Schultz from the DNC if he were elected.
“This is a silly story,” responded Wasserman Schultz. “He isn’t going to be president.”
This was just one of several exchanges that supported Bernie’s claim that the Democratic establishment was against him the entire time.
DNC press secretary Mark Paustenbach called Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver “an ASS” for saying they’d fight for the nomination until the convention.
Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall, suggested to another official that bringing Sanders’ religion into the public eye may hurt his campaign. “It might make no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief,” wrote Marshall. “Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist.”
Keep in mind that the DNC is supposed to remain neutral throughout the primary contest, until a nominee is voted on and chosen. However, these emails showed quite the opposite—committee members were aggravated with Sanders’ campaign and sought ways to actively undermine him.
Experts Believe Russia Hacked the DNC
That’s right—Russia may have been the reason the DNC’s private exchanges are now open to the public.
NBC News reported that the at least one of the hacker groups attacking the DNC worked according to the Russian time zone and took days off on Russian holidays. In addition, the signature left by the hackers was written in Russia’s Cyrillic alphabet.
According to CNN, Russian hackers may have been inside the DNC systems for more than a year. The FBI even warned the committee of the possible security breach. However, the DNC claimed that the hackers were so sophisticated that the committee did not realize the extent of the problem until now.
The possible motive? Russian President Vladimir Putin may prefer a President Trump to a President Clinton. That’s why experts think that the leak was timed with the night before the convention—maximum embarrassment and damage to the Democrats and Hillary Clinton.
The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016
Because there is virtually no way to fully prove Russia perpetrated this leak, others believe that blaming the Kremlin nation is just an extensive coverup by the DNC.Â
The Fallout From the Leak
As a result of the leaked emails, Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz promised to resign following the convention’s end on Friday.
“I know that electing Hillary Clinton as our next president is critical for America’s future,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement, according to The New York Times. “I look forward to serving as a surrogate for her campaign in Florida and across the country to ensure her victory.”
The DNC apologized to Sanders in the wake of the very damaging emails. “On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email,” the committee wrote in a statement. “These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process.”
However, these apologies were definitely not enough in the eyes of many Sanders supporters. The movement Bernie started against the political establishment is heating up even more, despite his continued endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
“Hell no, DNC! We won’t vote for Hillary!” yelled Sanders supporters at the DNC, according to the Times.
Bernie’s speech brought out a lot of emotions.https://t.co/yvj8fvM67p
— VICE News (@vicenews) July 26, 2016
Bernie supporters both cried and booed when he took the stage Monday night to express both his pain at losing the nomination, and his resolve that Clinton, not Trump, must win the presidency.
“I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am.”
Despite this disappointment, Sanders added that there is no viable alternative to Clinton. In essence, for the sake of the country, Donald Trump cannot become the president, Sanders said, adding, “If you don’t believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country.”