Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — The FBI has confirmed that agents are investigating a cyberattack involving the Democratic National Committee that resulted in the release this weekend in embarrassing emails.
In a statement Monday, the FBI said it was investigating a “cyber intrusion” affecting the DNC and was “working to determine the nature and scope of the matter.”
The FBI said it will “continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
Emails arising from the hack were posted over the weekend to WikiLeaks. Their release led party chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce her resignation.
A cybersecurity firm that looked into the DNC breach found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on the Democrats’ network — both of which have ties to the Russian government.
Bernie
Meanwhile, a delegate for Bernie Sanders says the yelling and chanting might not be over for outgoing Democratic chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Karen Bernal, a Sanders delegate from Sacramento, California, said Monday that she expected disruptions if Wasserman Schultz takes the stage as planned. The Florida congresswoman was booed and heckled as she tried to speak to her home state delegation Monday after emails by her staff revealed some DNC members sided with Sanders in the Democratic primaries. Wasserman Schultz said she will gavel open and close the convention and then resign.
Bernal appeared at a news conference on behalf of an independent network of Sanders delegates. The coordinator of that effort, Norman Solomon, from Point Reyes Station, California, questioned the timing of her departure, saying: “She’s resigning as of Friday? Why wait until Friday?”
Solomon, whose group communicates with 1,250 Sanders delegates, said Sanders delegates were weighing a number of floor protest actions this week. He said the Sanders campaign has not contacted his group to encourage them to not protest.
Contested?
Bernie Sanders’ delegates are waiting to see whether the Vermont senator frees them to vote for Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s roll call.
Nebraska delegate Jeff Leanna said the topic was a top discussion item at a breakfast meeting involving his state, Colorado and Nevada. He said regional members of the Clinton campaign were reaching out to some delegates to see if they would be willing to switch. Leanna says he’s willing to cross over if Sanders agrees to release them during a private meeting with delegates Monday.
Louise Edington of Utah said most in her delegation also were discussing but not revealing what they might do. Sanders won that state with nearly 80 percent of the vote.
Sanders won 1,846 pledged delegates from primaries and caucuses.
Protesters
Democratic National Convention protesters are gathering on the New Jersey side of a bridge leading to Philadelphia, preparing to march across it and possibly shut down traffic.
Busloads of activists are expected to march Monday across the Ben Franklin Bridge, most of them supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Organizer Gary Frazier says if the crowd is big enough, they’ll try to shut down traffic on the bridge.
Frazier says the goal is to get the convention to nominate Sanders for president. He says if that doesn’t happen, there will be a push to withdraw Sanders supporters from the Democratic Party.
Sanders has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
Sanders supporters are angry over hacked emails that reveal the DNC might have favored Clinton over Sanders during the party’s presidential primaries.
Trump
Donald Trump will take questions from the public on a web forum during the third night of the Democratic National Convention.
The Republican presidential nominee will participate in an “Ask Me Anything” event Wednesday night on Reddit. Users can begin asking questions at 6:30 p.m. and Trump will start responding at 7 p.m.
No topics are off limits on the forums, which have become a popular Internet staple.
And Putin
Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman said Donald Trump and Russian leader Valdimir Putin have “a kind of bromance going on.”
John Podesta said he believes news reports that hacks of the Democratic National Committee’s emails were orchestrated by Russian military intelligence agencies.
Podesta said on MSNBC Monday that there’s “a kind of bromance going on between Putin and Trump which is distinct from this leak.”
The Republican presidential nominee has done business in Russia. Trump has spoken favorably of Putin as someone he could negotiate with, producing better relations between the U.S. and its former Cold War adversary.
Podesta said “maybe it’s simply just a mutual admiration society.”
Trump is brushing off claims that Russia is trying to help his campaign by leaking thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee.
Trump said in a Tweet Monday that reports of Russia releasing the emails because Russian President Vladimir Putin likes him is “the new joke in town.”
Contrast to GOP
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, is boasting there will be many differences between the Democratic convention now getting under way in Philadelphia and last week’s GOP convention in Cleveland.
Among them: the governor of Pennsylvania, Democrat Tom Wolf, has endorsed Clinton — unlike Ohio’s GOP Gov. John Kasich, who has not backed Donald Trump and was conspicuously absent last week.
Mook also points out that Sen. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Clinton, and will be “doubling down” on that endorsement in a speech later Monday. In Cleveland, on the other hand, Sen. Ted Cruz withheld his backing for Trump and encouraged Republicans to vote their conscience.
Mook said the overall message is going to be “optimistic” and “hopeful” — “a big contrast to what we saw in Cleveland last week.”
Biden
Vice President Joe Biden will hold his first campaign rally for Hillary Clinton next month in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Biden had planned to campaign for Clinton earlier this month but postponed the event after five police officers were killed in Dallas. That incident also led Clinton’s GOP rival Donald Trump to scrap events.
The White House said Biden will travel to Scranton on August 15. The locale has dual significance — it’s also where Clinton’s father lived for years.
The rally will come nearly three weeks after Biden speaks Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention. Biden has endorsed Clinton and promised to campaign hard for her but was seen as a potential chief rival to her had he run for president. He opted out last year.
Boos for Debbie
Furious protesters nearly drowned out Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ speech to her home state delegation Monday, crowding the stage and screaming, “You’re ruining our democracy!”
A row of police officers stood between the stage and the protesters as the Florida congresswoman, who is up for re-election, finished her speech. Several of her supporters stood on chairs and waved T-shirts bearing her name, whole some yelled at the Sanders’ supporters to step back or sit down.
The Sanders’ supporters held paper signs that said “E-mails” on one side and “Thanks for the ‘help’ Debbie,” on the other.
Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday she would step down from the party chairmanship after the convention this week. She was pressured to resign after hacked emails revealed the DNC may have favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the party’s presidential primaries.
Pelosi blames the Russians
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is downplaying turmoil in the Democratic Party, saying it “doesn’t really matter” who is the party chair.
Pelosi blames the Russians for the hack of Democratic National Committee emails that revealed that party officials strategized against Bernie Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton.
Pelosi says the matter should be “scrutinized,” and “I do think there should be some examination of what happened at the DNC and action should be taken.”
Pelosi predicts that development will end up being “probably one of the most unimportant things that happened at the convention.”
She made her comments at a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg News Monday in Philadelphia.
Nothing to see here
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic Party, said Monday that “we’re done” with the controversy over hacked party emails.
“I think the good news now is we’re done,” McAuliffe said, after speaking to a delegate breakfast in Philadelphia on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. “We’ve dealt with the issue. Debbie has resigned and now we’ve got to go forward. She did the right thing. I used to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee. You should never tolerate anyone on your staff or allow people to write those kinds of things.”
McAuliffe said he hopes the delegates will treat Wasserman Schultz with respect, noting that “she wants to get up there” and participate this week. He added that she has worked hard and “it’s not an easy job.”
McAuliffe said he spoke to Wasserman Schultz last night and said the resignation “was very hard on her. You don’t like to see anyone have to go through this.”
Warren to the rescue
Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of liberals, will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention.
The Massachusetts senator speaks Monday night in an opening lineup that also includes first lady Michelle Obama, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who finished second in the Democratic primary.
Sanders will notably deliver the night’s closing address. Sanders generated enormous enthusiasm among young people and liberals during the Democratic primary, voters Hillary Clinton needs to show up for her in November.
The heat is on
After some early morning thunderstorms, the heat wave that’s been steaming Philadelphia ahead of the Democratic National Convention is set to reach its peak.
The National Weather Service says temperatures will hover in the mid- to upper-90s on Monday, the first day of the convention. With humidity, it will feel more like 105 degrees.
Protester Tony Schuster is staying at a campground in New Jersey. The Bernie Sanders supporter from Michigan says despite all the thunder, it didn’t rain too heavily there. He says campground conditions are good and it’s not too muddy. Mostly, he says, it’s just hot.
The city is under an excessive heat warning until 6 p.m.
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