Bernie Sanders Apologizes to Hillary Clinton Over Campaign Data Breach
Bernie Sanders Image by Getty Images
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders apologized to front-runner Hillary Clinton at a debate on Saturday for a breach of Clinton voter files by a Sanders staffer that intensified tensions between the two camps.
The Sanders campaign also suspended two staffers in connection with the breach, a campaign spokesman said after the ABC debate, following the firing of its top data director after reports of the incident surfaced late on Thursday.
“Yes, I apologize,” Sanders said when asked about the controversy by debate moderators. The Vermont senator, however, renewed his criticism of the Democratic National Committee for freezing access to his own voter files until the issue was resolved late on Friday and called it an “egregious act.”
“What the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information, crippling our campaign,” Sanders said. He vowed to fire any additional staffers found to have been involved in the breach.
Clinton, whose campaign said its chief rival made a number of breaches into Clinton computer files, accepted the apology and said it was time to move on.
“I very much appreciate that comment, Bernie,” the former secretary of state said. “Now that I think we’ve resolved your data, we’ve agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don’t think the American people are all that interested in this.”
The rising tensions over the breach came at a crucial moment for Sanders, who is trying to erase Clinton’s lead in the November 2016 Democratic White House race just six weeks before the first nominating contest in Iowa.
But the issue was dismissed within the first minutes of the debate and did not come up again in a more than two-hour event that focused on foreign policy, gun control and taxes. — Reuters
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
