WikiLeaks Reveals Clinton Worked With DNC To ‘Throw Bernie A Bone’

The recent Podesta emails dump on WikiLeaks has been a goldmine of information about the DNC and Clinton campaign’s arrogance toward former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The WikiLeaks dump reveals that even in March, the Clinton campaign was looking ahead to the convention and seeking ways to placate Bernie and his supporters.

In an email dated March 20, 2016, former Palm Beach County Democratic Party Chair Mark Siegel emailed Clinton Chief of Staff Tamera Luzzatto to suggest a method of pacifying Bernie without making any real significant changes.

“When the new delegate selection rules were voted on by the DNC, it is not shocking that the DNC added themselves as automatic delegates. That drove the percentage up to over 15 percent. It has crept up even a bit higher now.”

What Siegel is referring to is the percent of unelected party elites who were selected to be super delegates at the Democratic Convention. The original intention was to keep unelected party elites to a minimum, but that hasn’t been the case.

His message to Luzzatto made clear his dislike for Bernie and his supporters, calling them “self-righteous ideologues.” In a revealing passage, he disparaged Bernie’s supporters. In the lead-up to his suggestion to reduce the number of superdelegates, he emphasized the need for “those representing the losing candidate” to feel as though they’ve won something.

“I think this is terribly important especially with people like Bernie’s sometimes self-righteous ideologues. We want them to go home happy and enthusiastic in working their asses off for Hillary.”

Specifically concerning the issue of the super delegate system, Siegel reminded Luzzatto that he was the “guy who drafted the ‘super delegate’ provisions” of the Democratic Party’s selection rules. As such, he knows the system inside and out, and he admitted that since then, the percentage of unelected delegates went up to more than 15 percent.

“So here’s my idea. Bernie and his people have been b***hing about super delegates and the huge percentage that have come out for Hillary… why not throw Bernie a bone and reduce the super delegates in the future to the original draft members of the House and Senate, governors and big city mayors.”

He also then suggested removing DNC members who are not State chairs or vice-chairs.

“So if we ‘give’ Bernie this in the Convention’s rules committee, his people will think they’ve ‘won’ something from the Party Establishment. And it functionally doesn’t make any difference anyway. They win. We don’t lose. Everyone is happy.”

WikiLeaks has dumped thousands of emails concerning the DNC’s disdainful attitude toward Bernie Sanders and his supporters. Indeed, the DNC seems to have followed Siegel’s advice, as the Chicago Sun-Times reported in late July that the organization was moving to reform its superdelegate system in an effort to appease Bernie and his people.

Jeff Weaver, Bernie’s campaign manager, even called it a win.

“This is a tremendous victory for Senator Sanders’ fight to democratize the Democratic Party and reform the Democratic nominating process. We were pleased to work with the Clinton campaign to enact this historic commission.”

The WikiLeaks email itself solidifies the accusations that the Clinton campaign and the DNC were working together to get Hillary the nomination while locking Bernie out. Why? Because Siegel had originally tried to send this suggestion to Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, rather than to DNC head Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. He ultimately sent it to another Clinton campaign staffer.

One might conclude that it was not Wasserman-Schultz calling the shots for the Democratic Party during the primaries, but rather, Hillary Clinton.

What WikiLeaks has revealed is that Clinton’s people were talking about appeasing Bernie four months prior to the convention, before all states had finished their elections. This strongly indicates that not only was the primary rigged against Bernie, but it was also a coordinated attack and subsequent appeasement effort.

The Clinton camp has attempted to paint the WikiLeaks dumps as a Russian plot to interfere with U.S. elections, but there is no substantial proof that the Russians had anything to do with it. WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange is Australian and has spent the last several years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London as a political refugee.

Politico reports that the FBI is currently investigating the leaks, with no mention of Russia at all in its statement.

“The FBI is aware of media reporting on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters. The cyber threat environment continues to evolve as cyber actors target all sectors and their data. The FBI takes seriously any allegations of intrusions, and we will continue to hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”

At this point, it does not really matter who is behind the WikiLeaks email dumps. What is important is how WikiLeaks has revealed just how disdainful the Democratic Party leadership is of its voters. If anything, this new information should convince former Bernie supporters to never vote for Clinton.

[Featured Image by Jim Bourg/AP Images]