Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver held a press conference following revelations of a voter file data breach.
“The leadership of the DNC is now actively working to undermine our campaign,” accused Weaver in a statement outside Sanders’ Washington, D.C. office.
The Democratic National Committee suspended the Sanders’ campaign’s access to voter file software developed by NGP VAN after it was revealed that a firewall designed to prevent rival campaigns from accessing each other’s data had failed, and a Sanders staffer discovered the glitch.
Sanders’ campaign manager said that the campaign had discovered an error with the software’s firewall two months ago, and was worry about its data being stolen by other campaigns. He said that the DNC assured them that it would be fixed.
Weaver said that the campaign will go to Federal Court this afternoon to seek immediate relief if the DNC continues to hold its own data ‘hostage’.
“We are announcing today that if the DNC continues to hold our data hostage, and continues to try to attack the heart and soul of our campaign, we will be in federal court this afternoon seeking an immediate injunction.”
“The DNC is clearly acting in a heavy handed way, an unprecedented way,” Weaver said.
“Individual leaders of the DNC can support Hillary Clinton in any way they want, but they are not going to sabotage our campaign – one of the strongest grassroots campaigns in modern history.”
You can view Weaver’s full speech in front of the campaign’s Washington, D.C. office on C-SPAN.
DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued a statement, accusing Sanders campaign staffers of ‘inappropriately’ and ‘systematically’ accessing Clinton campaign data.
“Staff on the sanders campaign not only viewed the Clinton campaign’s proprietary data, but from what we’re being told, downloaded it, exported it and downloaded it,” she said.
A petition calling for DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to reinstate Sanders’ access to the voter file through NGP VAN software has received more than 100,000 signatures.
Social media users have shown their frustration with the DNC for their decision to suspend Sanders’ campaign’s access to the data.
“Why is Sanders being punished for the DNC’s computer goof?” asked Kate Collins on a post on The Hill’s Facebook page.
“This is a good time to make another donation to the Sanders campaign,” proclaimed an optimsitic Nick Scelsi in a comment.
