PHILADELPHIA — The Clinton campaign is bracing for another WikiLeaks email dump.
Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign’s communications director told reporters she wouldn’t be surprised if the rogue organization notorious for publishing hacked documents releases more emails from the trove it stole from the Democratic National Committee.
Palmieri said the campaign was not concerned about any of its emails or documents being released, and downplayed the impact another dump could have on the rest of the Democratic convention that will officially nominate Clinton for president Tuesday evening in a roll call vote of delegates.
“We’re not concerned about our emails. The Wikileaks leak was obviously designed to hurt our convention so it’s possible that they could do it — I don’t think they’re done,” Palmieri said Tuesday. “That’s how they operate.”
Palmieri said the Clinton campaign wasn’t necessarily expecting anything this week. But she explained that the notion that WikiLeaks isn’t done targeting Clinton, which the organization has basically confirmed, is the reason why the campaign believes the Russian government is behind the hack.
“People need to understand, when these leaks happen, what they’re designed to do,” she said. There is some speculation, which has been embraced by the Clinton campaign, that Vladimir Putin’s regime hacked the DNC to help Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has expressed a fondness for the Russian strongman.
Day one of the Democratic convention was marred by revelations that the DNC worked against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the primary. Clinton was positioned to win that race and the DNC’s minor meddling didn’t amount to much, but Sanders delegates were offended.
DNC chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, was forced to resign and give up any role at the convention. But that wasn’t enough to placate Sanders loyalists, many of whom booed any mention of Clinton on Monday during the first couple hours of the convention.
The campaign said it was pleased with how the Sanders forces and the Clinton campaign cooperated to present a unified front on the party platform and rules package.
“We think yesterday we were really pleased that the, not just by voice vote but by enthusiastic voice vote, all of the delegates approved the platform, and we believe that’s because it’s the most progressive party platform that the Democrats have adopted,” Palmieri said. “That happened because Sen. Sanders’ campaign and our campaign came together to work very hard to develop that.”
The Tuesday session in Philadelphia features the roll call vote on the convention floor to nominate Clinton, the first woman to lead a major party ticket, and a speech by her husband, President Bill Clinton.
