Rep. Kucinich: DNC's Actions are Indefensible

During an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) discussed the Democratic National Committee email leak, which revealed how Party officials tried to sabotage Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign and resulted in the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

“It reflects a culture within the Democratic National Committee,” Kucinich said. “There are so many things that basically prove that this election was rigged against Bernie Sanders. There has to be some kind of comeuppance here, this is not right. This kind of politics cannot continue.”

Kucinich pointed to the Democratic debate schedule—which he called insufficient—and the Party’s recent vote to reduce the role of superdelegates by binding almost two-thirds to the results of state primaries and caucuses.

Kucinich also called the DNC’s actions “indefensible” and said he thinks it’s time for Sanders to withdraw his endorsement of Hillary Clinton as the Party’s nominee for president.

“It’s not just about him, it’s about a movement he represents, which got 46% of the votes in the country, and that kind of conduct was totally dismissive of almost half of the Democratic voters,” he said. “You cannot have that kind of contempt for voters, and I think Bernie ought to at least consider withdrawing the endorsement.”

The fallout occurred just before the Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday in Philadelphia.

“The DNC’s excuse was ‘well he wasn’t going to win anyway,’” Kucinich said. “Their conduct actually helped create a self-fulfilling prophecy where Bernie was locked out because the game was rigged.”

Kucinich said he thinks it’s time for politicians to wake up.

“This is a whole new era where technology is impacting politics in a very powerful way,” he said. “The Millennials will understand this better than anyone because you don’t put anything in an email that you wouldn’t expect to have to read publically and so the politicians are just getting caught up and I think what it reflects is an older political culture, pre-Internet, and it hasn’t really caught up.”

He also called the Party’s intention to use Bernie Sanders’ religious beliefs against him “mind-boggling.”

“The question now is does the DNC believe in fairness, does the DNC believe in the Constitution of the United States and freedom of religion, does the DNC believe in trying to unite the Party?”

Voters will be watching to see if Sanders addresses the scandal when he takes the stage at the DNC tonight.