Brazile: Dem primary was not rigged because no votes were overturned

Former interim Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Donna Brazile argued Monday that her party’s 2016 presidential primary process was not rigged because none of the votes were overturned.

Speaking at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, Brazile clarified the section of her book that appeared to allege the Democratic Party’s primary had been rigged in Hillary Clinton’s favor. Brazile argued that the primary was not rigged because despite internal issues at the DNC, Clinton won because of support from voters.

“And I concluded that it was not rigged because the votes for Hillary Clinton came from you the voters, you the voters. I found no evidence of one vote being overturned by what was happening internally,” Brazile said.

{mosads}

“But what I did find, what made me very very upset at the time, was that this agreement meant that the Hillary campaign would control the DNC finances. And I did not like that.”

The remarks are the latest wrinkle in the fallout from Brazile’s new book, “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House,” which includes revelations about the 2016 Democratic presidential primary that has roiled the party.

In an excerpt published prior to the book’s release, Brazile described a joint fundraising agreement between Clinton’s campaign, the Clinton joint fundraising committee and the DNC that said the campaign would “control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised.”

The agreement was signed in August of 2015, Brazile said, effectively giving Clinton’s campaign control of the DNC nearly one year before she secured the nomination after a competitive primary battle with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The excerpt caused Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to say she believed the primary was rigged, a claim she has since walked back.

“By September 7, the day I called Bernie, I had found my proof and it broke my heart,” Brazile wrote in the excerpt of her book.

However, several days after the excerpt was published, Brazile denied that the party’s primary was rigged — an apparent backtrack from the implication in that section of her book, which has caused much confusion within her own party.

During the Monday remarks in Chicago, Brazile emphasized that she authored her new book out of concern about the hacking at the DNC, which had its emails released by WikiLeaks before the presidential election.

“But if this book will raise awareness about hacking and how you all need to protect your identity, get the two step certification, let alone understand the country needs to be protected,” Brazile said. “Our data banks, our election systems, this is the purpose of writing this book, not to open old wounds.”