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The Magnificent Seven

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 193: The Magnificent Seven

Staffer Scandal Burns Wasserman Schultz

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Politico: “The chatter about a House leadership post is gone. So is talk of statewide office. After Hillary Clinton’s defeat, there’s no prospect of an administration job for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She’s under fire for mismanaging an IT employee under a House IT investigation who was arrested on a seemingly unrelated mortgage fraud charge. Wasserman Schultz broke her public silence on Awan last week, portraying herself as the victim of ‘right wing media’ attacks rooted in anti-Muslim bigotry.”

Said fellow Florida Democrat Nikki Barnes: “We wish she would go away and stop being so public by doubling down on negative stories … None of this makes sense. It doesn’t sound like racial profiling … there must have been something for her …. This adds to Debbie being re-branded as the Democrats’ disastrous destruction.”

Sanders Wants DNC Chair Out

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Sen. Bernie Sanders told CNN that the release of DNC emails that prove that Party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz needs to go.

Said Sanders: “I don’t think she is qualified to be the chair of the DNC not only for these awful emails, which revealed the prejudice of the DNC, but also because we need a party that reaches out to working people and young people, and I don’t think her leadership style is doing that.”

DNC Chair Won’t Speak at Convention

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“The head of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at the party’s convention next week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced that raised questions about the committee’s impartiality during the Democratic primary,” CNN reports.

“Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, will not have a major speaking role in an effort ‘to keep the peace’ in the party, a Democrat familiar with the decision said.”

Democrats Mull Dropping Wasserman Schultz

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“Democrats on Capitol Hill are discussing whether Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz should step down as Democratic National Committee chairwoman before the party’s national convention in July,” The Hill reports.

“Democrats backing likely presidential nominee Hillary Clinton worry Wasserman Schultz has become too divisive a figure to unify the party in 2016… Wasserman Schultz has had an increasingly acrimonious relationship with the party’s other presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, and his supporters, who argue she has tilted the scales in Clinton’s favor.”

Sanders Backs Challenger to Wasserman Schultz

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Sen. Bernie Sanders “cranked up his crusade” against the Democratic establishment, declaring that he is supporting DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) primary challenger, Politico reports.

“The move, a clear and intended affront to the Florida congresswoman, comes amid long-standing tensions between the two Democrats. Sanders and his allies contend that Wasserman Schultz has not been an honest broker during his run for the Democratic nomination and they have seethed over a number of issues ranging from the debate schedule to the amount of representation on the convention standing committees.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

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“As powerful as that makes me feel, I’m not doing a very good job of rigging the outcome or…blocking…anyone from being able to get their message out.”

— DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, quoted by The Hill, on accusations that she’s rigged the Democratic primary for Hillary Clinton.

Quote of the Day

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“Look, they made this bed, they’ve been willingly allowing the Tea Party extremists to take over their party, and so they have only themselves to blame with the likelihood of having a presumptive nominee like Donald Trump, who is the most extreme and vile, misogynistic candidate in modern times.”

— DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, quoted by The Hill.

Top DNC Official Accuses Chair of Lying

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R.T. Rybak, the former mayor of Minneapolis and a vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, accused the party’s leader, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), of making “flat-out not true” statements about another top party officer, questioned her political skills and said he had “serious questions” about her suitability for the job, the New York Times reports.

The broadside from Mr. Rybak “followed weeks of internal party dissension over the number and timing of the presidential debates it has scheduled, capped by an acrimonious public dispute” over whether Wasserman Schultz had barred Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) from the first debate this week.

DNC Holds Firm on Debate Schedule

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DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz “stood firmly by her plan to hold exactly six presidential debates—and jabbed at the candidate who’s been most aggressive in agitating for more,” Bloomberg reports.

Said Wasserman Schultz: “We’re having six debates–period.”

She added: “We’re not changing the process. We’re having six debates. We’re having six debates and the candidates will be uninvited from any subsequent debates if they accept an invitation to a debate outside the six DNC-sanctioned debates.”

Wasserman Schultz Offered to Switch Position for Donor

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DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office “offered to change her position on medical marijuana if a major Florida donor recanted his withering criticism of her,” according to emails obtained by Politico.

“The proposal to Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan was straightforward: retract critical statements he made to a reporter in return for Wasserman Schultz publicly backing his cannabis initiative that she had trashed just months earlier. Morgan declined the offer with a sharp email reply sent to a go-between, who described the congresswoman as being in a ‘tizzy.'”

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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