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“NO WAY OUT”: How Team Hillary Forced Debbie Wasserman Schultz From DNC

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According to the new tell-all book Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz demanded support from Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama before she would resign as Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Just days before last July’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Wikileaks published emails showing Wasserman Schultz and her DNC staff actively favored Hillary Clinton over Senator Bernie Sanders. Hoping to show a united front with Sanders supporters, the Clinton campaign knew Wasserman Schultz had to go.

Knowing Sanders supporters would protestors would haunt her every move in Philadelphia, the book claims Wasserman Schultz wanted to make a deal before she would quit. “Try as she did to hold back her anger and frustration, DWS made them evident as she issued demands in return. She wanted an endorsement from Hillary and one from Obama, along with a guarantee that the party would be there for her on primary day in her own district.” DWS faced a tough challenge from south Florida law professor Tim Canova, a favorite of local progressives.

Wasserman Schultz demaned more. She wanted the DNC to pay for her travel back to Broward. “[DWS] had a number of family members in town for what she had expected would be a big moment for her, and it would be expensive for her to foot the bill to bring them all back to Florida early.” There was more.

A DNC source told the authors, “DWS spent much of the day trying to negotiate the language Obama and Clinton would use in praising her if she resigned.” Finally, “[I]t was becoming clear to Wasserman Schultz that she had no way out.” Allen and Parnes write DWS was the last to realize she had no other choice but to quit.

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, waves to the crowd after speaking during a rally at Michigan State University, Wednesday, March 2, 2016, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

BOOK: TEAM HILLARY NOT FANS OF DWS, KEPT HER OFF STAGE FOR HUGE SOUTH FL CAMPAIGN RALLY

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According to Shattered, Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign, campaign aides scrambled to prevent Debbie Wasserman Schultz from “poisoning” the South Florida rally introducing Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Kaine. One day before the rally at Florida International University, Wikileaks published emails showing Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) favored Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Oblivious to the growing scandal, Wasserman Schultz expected to have a prominent role at the rally.

One Democratic source told authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes that DWS had few friends within the campaign. “Hillary genuinely likes Debbie. I think she’s the only one in the orbit who does,” the source said. “The campaign does not like Debbie.” Another aide said Hillary, “[F]elt loyal to her.”

Despite the loyalty from Hillary, the campaign decided Debbie Wasserman Schultz would not share the stage with Clinton and Kaine. The campaign banished DWS to a seat in the audience. The book claims DWS was “fuming.” Aides did not want Wasserman Schultz backstage, fearing she would try to confront Hillary Clinton.

“If Wasserman Schultz didn’t understand then that she was finished as a face of the Clinton campaign–and she didn’t–she certainly should have.”