Liberal Democrats who have read Donna Brazile's bombshell account about the 2016 election are beginning to publicly rebuke the Democratic National Committee. In her own words, Brazile recalls how the DNC more or less rigged the primary for Hillary Clinton. As the interim DNC chair had to break the news to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), explaining to him how Clinton had already had a 'victory fund' agreement with the committee well in advance of becoming the nominee. Brazile also trashes the leadership of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, President Obama's having left the party in debt, and nasty party infighting. Her anger left her in tears.
It's all in her upcoming book, "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House."
It seems it was an open secret among Democratic politicians. When asked whether she agreed with Brazile's account that the DNC rigged the primary, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said "yes," without skipping a beat.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), the former vice chairman of the DNC, said in an interview with the Young Turks that she too is not surprised by Brazile's account, but she did raise her eyebrows to see it become so public.
"I was not surprised to read about what she wrote. I was surprised to see that it had been written about," Gabbard said in an interview with the Young Turks on Thursday.
"I wasn't privy to many of the detailed things that she talked about while I was serving there as vice chair," she added. "It was something that, you know, had been spoken about in kind of vague terms that, 'Hey this is a potential course of action that may be taken.' But to have it laid out in such stark, blunt terms — again, I was not surprised that that happened, but I was a little bit surprised that it was put out there as it was today."
Gabbard went on to describe the lack of communication that was rampant throughout the committee.
"There was not openness, there was not communications, there was not discussion about a lot of these major issues that she raised with the five vice chairs," she recalled.
Current DNC Chair Tom Perez did not comment on the scandal, only noting that the committee is "moving forward" and will take pains to make sure the 2020 primary is "totally fair and transparent."