WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Revelations of Democratic National Committee (DNC) bias against Bernie Sanders will hurt Hillary Clinton with the American public because they confirm the widespread view that she is corrupt and untrustworthy, Republican National Convention alt delegate Ralph Winnie told Sputnik.
"This represents exactly what people are angry and frustrated about in American politics," Winnie said on Tuesday. "It plays into [Republican presidential candidate Donald] Trump’s hands. It is for Trump to really capitalize on this."
DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a close Clinton friend and ally, was forced to resign this week after being booed at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia over the revelations in the 33,000 hacked emails released by WikiLeaks.
"The revelations are very disturbing. The American people want an open and transparent system. Trump is correct: His tag of ‘Crooked Hillary’ has stuck to her. It is another thing that crystalizes why people find her untrustworthy. This is why Trump is gaining ground on her," Winnie observed.
"If I was Bernie Sanders [supporter], I would be very outraged by this. This will impact on the ability of the Democrats to unite. You are seeing Sanders people who refuse to go along with the Clinton narrative. They refuse to accept her," he explained.
The WikiLeaks revelations would also prove devastating for Clinton with the American public, Winnie predicted.
"People in the United States view her as untrustworthy as someone who gets away with things that other people are not allowed to," he pointed out.
Winnie said he also believed efforts by Democratic leaders, including President Barack Obama, to distract public attention and blame Russia for the leaks would fail for lack of proof.
"Concerning the alleged Russian hacking, we do not know for sure. There is no definitive proof of official Russian involvement," he noted.
Winnie added that the real scandal was the failure of Clinton and the DNC to take basic responsible security precautions.
Winnie remarked that the DNC’s security failures posed a threat to US national security since so many US government officials maintained direct communications with the organization.
"The openness of the DNC servers to being hacked meant that email exchanges between the DNC and senior US government officials were likely compromised as well," he stated.
The row over the revelations in the emails and Wasserman Schultz’s resignation as DNC leader had thrown the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia into confusion and doubt after Trump had celebrated an unexpectedly successful one in Cleveland, Winnie concluded.
