Sen. Bernard Sanders said he is still committed to unifying the Democratic Party and defeating Republican Donald Trump in November, despite an email leak that showed top Democratic National Committee officials trying to undermine his presidential primary campaign.
Mr. Sanders called on his supporters to rally behind presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, saying Mr. Trump “must not become president of the United States.”
“I’m going to do everything I can to defeat him, to elect Hillary Clinton, and to keep focusing on the real issues facing the American people, and that is the decline of the American middle class going on for 40 years, massive levels of income and wealth inequality,” Mr. Sanders said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He said he was pleased with progressive alterations to the Democratic Party platform on higher education and health care.
“So my focus right now is defeating Trump, electing Clinton, electing progressive candidates around this country, and focusing on the issues that matter the most to working families,” he said.
WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 hacked emails last week, many of which show top Democratic officials trying to undermine the Sanders campaign.
In one email, DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall suggested getting someone on the campaign trail to ask whether Mr. Sanders was an atheist.
“This could make several points difference with my peeps,” Mr. Marshall wrote. “My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.”
The Vermont senator called the emails “outrageous” but said they are “not a great shock” based on how he was treated in the primary race.
“I’m not quite shocked by this, and that is why, many, many months ago, I made it clear that [DNC Chair] Debbie Wasserman Schultz should resign, should step down,” Mr. Sanders said.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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