The treasure trove of Democratic National Committee emails released by Wikileaks on Friday include evidence of Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz demanding an end to negative “Morning Joe” coverage.
An angry email sent to “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd by Mrs. Wasserman Schultz demanded negative coverage by MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski “must stop.”
“Chuck, see below. I would like to discuss this with you today. Can you reach out to Luis to schedule a call? Thanks,” the Florida congresswoman wrote after forwarding a newsletter from Breitbart News’ Ian Hanchett.
“On Wednesday, 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,” the email read. “After playing a clip of Wasserman Schultz, Brzezinski said, ’This has been very poorly handled from the start. […]’ 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.’ “
Mr. Todd told Mediaite on Friday that Mrs. Wasserman Schultz’s email was a nonissue.
“I think it’s clear what it was. Someone complaining about coverage,” Mr. Todd said. “Something that happens daily from every campaign we interact with.”
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WikiLeaks released roughly 20,000 emails from seven accounts belonging to DNC staffers. The documents cover a January 2015 to May 2016 time frame.
Other embarrassing details from the document dump include a DNC staffer suggesting it would be worthwhile to attack Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont on his faith, and another who wanted to frame his campaign as “a mess.”
The emails threaten to further inflame tensions between Mr. Sanders’ supporters and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
A Democratic source told CNN on Friday that the leaks were the equivalent of “gas meets flame” as the party prepares for its Philadelphia convention July 25-28.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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