PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton’s campaign is bracing for the possibility of more damaging emails being leaked to the public as the presidential campaign enters its home stretch.
Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for Hillary for America, said it’s possible that more emails will be released at a time designed to inflict maximum political pain on Democrats.
{mosads}“The WikiLeaks leak was obviously designed to hurt our convention,” she told reporters. “I don’t think they’re done. That’s how they operate.
“We can’t know, but it’s part of the reason that we wanted people to understand our belief that the Russians are behind this,” she said. “People need to understand — when these leaks happen — what they’re designed to do.”
Palmieri added that the Clinton campaign was not worried about its own email security.
The first day of the Democratic National Convention was upended by the WikiLeaks release over the weekend of more than 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Some of those emails suggested that officials at the DNC, which is supposed to be neutral during the party’s presidential primary, worked against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and favored Clinton, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
The leak led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as Sanders’s supporters made their displeasure with the party known in and outside the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention is being held.
The FBI announced it was opening an investigation into the leak Monday, and the Clinton campaign has previously suggested the email theft and timing of the leak may have been carried out by the Russian government to undermine her campaign and boost GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s.
Palmieri’s comments come as Democrats prepare to officially nominate Clinton for president, making her the first woman to be nominated for president by one of the two major political parties.
The campaign downplayed some of the intraparty strife that was on display Monday, when Sanders’s supporters broke out in chants or occasionally booed convention speakers backing Clinton’s candidacy.
“It is hard to work for someone for over a year and all of a sudden shift gears,” said Karen Finney, senior adviser for Hillary for America. “It’s a process, so our message is really that we understand that.”
Clinton’s campaign argued that Sanders’s endorsement on Monday evening was a big step toward unifying the party. But Tuesday’s roll call vote of the Democratic delegates will give Sanders supporters one final opportunity to push for their candidate, while Clinton is expected to formally receive the nomination that evening.
Finney said all 57 states and territories will cast their votes for their preferred candidates, as opposed to prior conventions when all of the delegates got behind the presumed nominee.
“We think it’s very important that everybody have a chance to vote and have their voice heard,” Finney said.