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Last weekend, over 19,000 Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails were released by WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing website.
The scandal led to Chairwoman of the DNC Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigning days before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia took place this week. Since then, many accusations have been thrown around. Among all the crazy waves of new information and the rumors surrounding this scandal were four big things that we can highlight for you right now.
The leaks showed a truly dark and collusion-riddled side of the DNC
Among the many emails that were released, there are a few that particularly stood out and reflected how much “big money” controls politics. That’s not a complete surprise, but it’s still shocking when actually confirmed.
In an email exchange with a leading Democratic donor, a list of demands and requests were set up between the woman and the DNC that included whether or not she had helped raise enough money to bring an extra person to Vice President Joe Biden’s holiday party.
Other emails revealed the elaborate and transactional exchanges involved in collecting millions of dollars from the Democratic Party’s more wealthy donors.
Sets of emails that show high-ranking officials working to undermine the Bernie Sanders campaign were also leaked. Chairwoman Schultz discussed strategies for suppressing Sanders’ popular support in the south; for example, by questioning his religious beliefs.
Most emails consist of anti-Sanders plans as well as well as insults directed at his campaign manager Jeff Weaver.
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Those involved include people as high up as CFO of the DNC Brad Marshall and CEO Amy Dacey. Marshall later apologized in a Facebook post for his involvement and behavior, which he called insensitive.
“The comments expressed do not reflect my beliefs nor do they reflect the beliefs of the DNC and its employees.”
Contrary to popular belief, it may not have started with the Russians
By late April, the Democratic National Committee had realized its system had been hacked. After much investigating with the help of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, it was determined the group behind the hacking of the system were most likely of Russian origin. A fingerprint had been left behind by one of the hackers.
Julian Assange chose to neither confirm nor deny they were separate incidents.
“Perhaps one day the source or sources will step forward and that might be an interesting moment,” he told CNN. “Some people may have egg on their faces. But to exclude certain actors is to make it easier to find out who our sources are.”
The hacks made by the Russians could have been an isolated incident from WikiLeaks and that the Democratic Party was using them as a deflection from the truth, which is that the party has become corrupt.
President Obama went so far as to accuse Putin of sending the attack on the DNC as a way to manipulate the United States presidential elections in Republican candidate Donald Trump’s favor. Trump has denied these allegations and deemed them “ridiculous.” The Kremlin has denied all allegations behind the hacking.
The DNC leaks were timed
Julian Assange foreshadowed the release of the DNC emails six weeks prior. Assange made it clear he hoped to harm Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency. In an interview with television host Robert Preston of ITV, he said his organization had obtained “emails related to Hillary Clinton which are pending publication.” He suggested that he not only opposed her due to her policies, but also saw her as a “personal foe.”
In response to Assange’s comment, Preston asked whether he preferred Trump as the next United States president. Assange replied he believed Trump would be an unpredictable president, but that he thought it was predictable that Mrs. Clinton would wield power in two ways he found problematic. The first being his “personal perspective,” as Clinton was one of the people who wanted to indict him. The second: Mrs. Clinton’s push to intervene in Libya’s collapse into anarchy, enabling the rise of the Islamic State.
The best is yet to come
Following the release of 29 DNC voicemails this morning, Assange revealed there is more information to come regarding Hillary Clinton, the DNC and the United States presidential election which could lead to a shaking-up of the system. He revealed no clues as to what type of information would be released, but we can know for sure that it will be quite controversial.
Source: Reuters, CNN, New York Times
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