Former DNC vice chair: Democratic primary was ‘rigged’ for Clinton

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a former vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), called the 2016 Democratic primary “unethical” on Thursday in response to an exposé on the party’s ties to the Clinton campaign.

“Today we heard from Donna Brazile that what many suspected for a long time, is actually true: the DNC secretly chose their nominee over a year before the primary elections even occurred, turning over DNC control to the Clinton campaign,” Gabbard said in a statement Thursday, calling the 2016 primary “rigged.”

“The deep financial debt, closed door decision-making, complete lack of transparency, and unethical practices are now front and center,” she added.

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Brazile, the former interim chairwoman of the committee, said in an excerpt from her upcoming book published in Politico that she discovered a deal from August 2015, months before Clinton secured the party’s nomination, that said Clinton’s campaign would “control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised.”

The agreement was reached between the Clinton campaign, the DNC and Clinton’s joint fundraising committee, Brazile said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) similarly said Thursday she believes the 2016 Democratic presidential primary was rigged for Clinton.

Gabbard, who left her post at the DNC in 2016 to support Sanders’s bid, pointed to “deeply broken” campaign finance laws, which she blamed for allowing the Clinton campaign to take in additional individual contributions through the DNC after reaching the legal individual limit.

Brazile, who stepped into her prior role at the DNC after former chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) was ousted following the release of emails pertaining to the committee’s ingrained support for Clinton, also called the arrangement “unethical.”