Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile is calling out critics of her new book, saying those who want her to “shut up” should “go to hell.”
“For those who are telling me to shut up, they told Hillary that a couple of months ago. You know what I tell them, ‘Go to hell.’ I’m going to tell my story,” an emotional Brazile said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Brazile has claimed in her new book that she considered replacing Hillary Clinton with then-Vice President Joe Biden as the party’s nominee, mere weeks before Election Day.
“I was under tremendous pressure after Secretary Clinton fainted to have a quote, unquote, plan B,” Brazile said on Sunday.
“I didn’t want a plan B. Plan A was great for me. I supported Hillary and I wanted her to win. But we were under pressure,” she added.
While Brazile’s forthcoming book, “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House,” has been condemned by the Clinton campaign, she maintains that her decisions and role had “nothing to do with the Hillary campaign.” She says instead that she was “concerned about the entire party, not just the presidential election.”
When asked to expand on her assessments that the primary elections were “rigged” in Clinton’s favor, Brazile appeared to backtrack, saying she found “no evidence” of such rigging.
“I said I would get to the bottom of everything. And that’s what I did. And I called Senator Sanders to say, you know, I wanted to make sure there was no rigging of the process. I’m on the rule and bylaws committee. I found no evidence, none whatsoever,” said Brazile on Sunday.
In excerpts from her upcoming book featured in Politico Thursday, Brazile claimed the DNC and Clinton came to an unethical agreement to stabilize the party’s finances. Brazile claimed the election was unfair because Clinton’s campaign was financing the party from the early days of the election, giving it a preferred status with the DNC.
Members of the Clinton campaign have since penned a letter responding to Brazile’s claims, saying “Donna came in to take over the DNC at a very difficult time. We were grateful to her for doing so. She is a longtime friend and colleague of many of us and has been an important leader in our party. But we do not recognize the campaign she portrays in the book.”
Brazile called the eventual hacking of the DNC “worse than Hurricane Katrina” for her in regard to the emotional toll it took, but said she wishes she had done more.
“As somebody who went through the hacking experience, being able to tell the truth about what happened with the Russians, the attack on our government do I regret any of that? No. I wish I could have done more, George.”
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