(COMMONDREAMS) Just before President Barack Obama delivered his speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, new reporting on the so-called “DNC Leak” by WikiLeaks unearthed a large batch of voicemails contained in the files which give additional texture to a scandal that has loomed large at this week’s event in Philadelphia.
Though many of the voicemails (see the complete list of audio files here) are rather innocuous in their content, CNN reports how other “messages highlight the relationships between donors looking for favors and goodies, and the party officials trying to bring in money to their coffers.”
And as The Hill reports:
One caller with an Arizona area code called to blast the DNC for putting Sanders surrogate Cornel West on the platform drafting committee.
“I’m furious for what you are doing for Bernie Sanders,” another caller says in a message. “He’s getting way too much influence.”
“What I see is the Democratic Party bending over backwards for Bernie,” adds the caller, who threatens to leave the party if the DNC doesn’t stop “coddling” the Vermont senator.
It appears, as Politico also notes, that the voicemail files are not part of a new dump, though many outlets reported it that way, but rather an overlooked section among what WikiLeaks first published last Friday.
But as this news segment on ABC News from Wednesday helps show, the leaked emails—coupled with some of the more telling voicemails—reveal how big money and political favors help capture influence within the Democratic Party:
As Common Dreams has reported this week, the DNC leak has deepened divisions between the more progressive wing of the party which backed the campaign of Bernie Sanders and the establishment wing that largely controls the party apparatus and put its full support into making sure Hillary Clinton was selected as the nominee.
This article (Leaked DNC Voicemails Show Money Buying Access) by Jon Queally originally appeared on CommonDreams.org and is licensed Creative Commons 3.0. The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org