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Just days away from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the event has a new chairwoman: Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) has permanently replaced Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) in the role, according to an email her office sent to NPR. Wasserman Schultz will also no longer have a speaking role at the convention. The eleventh-hour reorganization comes in the wake of an email hack that released nearly 20,000 emails from top DNC officials.
A little backstory: On Friday, Wikileaks put up 19,252 emails from January 2015 to May 25 of this year. In a nutshell, they seem to be batting ideas around about how to hurt Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at the polls, including one email from a top brass that appears to be asking whether they should reference Sanders' Jewish faith to weaken his position in the South. Of course, all of this is more than against the rules: The DNC is supposed to be neutral and even-handed when it comes to campaigning candidates since it technically represents whoever is running.
The leak echoes what Sanders has been saying for some time: His camp called out Wasserman Schultz, who happened to co-chair Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, saying that she was attempting to undermine his campaign.
Sanders reiterated his sentiments this morning: "I mean there's no question to my mind, and I think no question to any objective observer's mind, that the DNC was supporting Hillary Clinton and was at opposition to our campaign," Sanders said.
According to CNN, Sanders publicly called for her resignation today: "It is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying: The function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates—to be fair and even-minded."
Wasserman Schultz is in talks with party leaders about her future in with the DNC (many are suggesting she resign entirely) and should soon be issuing a statement about the leaks. However, Sanders maintained his support for Clinton, stressing that the main priority is to defeat Trump in the coming election.
More from Glamour: Here's how to talk about politics without getting into a fight.
Source: http://www.glamour.com/story/debbie-wasserman-schultz-democratic-national-convention
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