Most everyone assumed the Republican National Convention would be overshadowed by violent protests, given the fact that Donald Trump was being named the GOP presidential nomiee and some of his previous rally locations were fraught with conflict, protests, and even riots in some places, but the convention concluded without any major damage, injuries or mass arrests.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin on July 25, 2016, in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania, to end on July 28. While protests were planned far in advance of the event by a number of groups, we now see that the Democratic Convention could spiral into utter chaos, due to 19,252 explosive emails and 8,034 attachments from the top of the US Democratic National Committee, leaked by WikiLeaks.
THE EMAIL DUMP
On Friday, July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks dumped what they call "part one of our new Hillary Leak Series," with the following message shown at their DNC Emails page:
Today, Friday 22 July 2016 at 10:30am EDT, WikiLeaks releases 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from the top of the US Democratic National Committee -- part one of our new Hillary Leaks series. The leaks come from the accounts of seven key figures in the DNC: Communications Director Luis Miranda (10770 emails), National Finance Director Jordon Kaplan (3797 emails), Finance Chief of Staff Scott Comer (3095 emails), Finanace Director of Data & Strategic Initiatives Daniel Parrish (1472 emails), Finance Director Allen Zachary (1611 emails), Senior Advisor Andrew Wright (938 emails) and Northern California Finance Director Robert (Erik) Stowe (751 emails). The emails cover the period from January last year until 25 May this year.
All in all the leaked emails prove conclusively that the DNC, which is supposed to stay neutral in the primary process, had already "selected" Hillary rather than allowing their voters to "elect" the candidate of their choice.
In fact, newly released data shows that without the "rigged" process of the Super Delegate system the Democrats utilized, Bernie Sanders could have won the nomination.
DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has already been ousted from speaking at the Democratic convention, with one top Democrat stating "She's been quarantined," according to CNN.
The head of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at the party's convention next week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced that raised questions about the committee's impartiality during the Democratic primary.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, will not have a major speaking role in an effort "to keep the peace" in the party, a Democrat familiar with the decision said. The revelation comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails
Fueled by grievances over the party's treatment of Bernie Sanders and doubts over Hillary Clinton's progressive credentials, tens of thousands of protesters are poised to put a fragile post-primary detente to the test this week during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Unlike Cleveland, where scattershot demonstrations routinely dissolved among infighting and an overwhelming police presence, the protesters descending on the DNC have a more coherent slate of demands and, with a new Wikileaks release of documents that seems to show Democratic officials discussing ways to undermine Sanders' bid, freshly ignited anger at the party's handling of the nominating contest.
Now, with high heat already in the region and heavy storms on the horizon, Philadelphia is preparing for a more contentious series of showdowns than many expected even a few weeks ago. They begin on Sunday, with pro-Sanders rallies scheduled in FDR Park and Thomas Paine Plaza.
Heavy.com is reporting that "thousands of Bernie Sanders supporters and other voters have requested to join DNC class action lawsuit, which is being led by Beck & Lee Trial Lawyers, a civil litigation firm based in Miami," highlighting Article 5 Section 4 of the Democratic Party charter and bylaws, which requires the chair of the DNC (Wasserman-Shultz) to remain impartial during primaries:
In the conduct and management of the affairs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.
Interestingly enough, in an email chain dated May 18, 2016, DNC officials were outraged that MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe' co-host Mika Brzezinski called for DNC Chair Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) to "step down" over her handling of this year’s Democratic presidential primary. They also highlighted the following:
Brzezinski added of Wasserman Schultz, "She should step down." Brzezinski’s co-host, former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough wondered why Sanders would “get in line” for the Democratic Party, given that they "rigged the entire thing," and that if he was in Sanders’ position, "I'd say, 'Go straight to hell, I'm running as an independent'."
The response according to that chain was "This is the LAST straw. Please call Phil a Griffin. This is outrageous. She needs to apologize."
Side Note - Back in May there were "rumors" stemming from an EU article, that Russia was in possession of nearly 20,000 emails taken from "the private unsecured email server that Hillary Clinton used for official communications." That rumor could never be verified since the originating source was dubious, but we have to wonder if this email leak coincidentally being "nearly 20,000" emails was in fact the real leak, which has now been released.
Perhaps the original story simply had the wrong originating source of where the emails were hacked from, because the coincidence of the number released now in comparison to the number it was claimed that Russia had, is hard to overlook.
BOTTOM LINE
Throughout the primaries the Bernie Sanders' campaign and his vocal supporters accused the DNC of rigging the primaries and as of this WikiLeaks release of DNC confidential emails, we see Sanders and his supporters were right.
This release coming just days before the Democratic convention kick-off could make for a very tense upcoming week and as more emails are gone through, and depending on when WikiLeaks plans to release part two and what is in them, things could get much worse for Democratic officials and may overshadow the convention itself.
