Vermont senator was critical of the Florida congresswoman throughout the primary, accusing the party of rigging the process in favor of Clinton

The revelations prompted runner-up Bernie Sanders to call for Wasserman Schultz's resignation on Sunday

Some suggested the Democratic Nation Committee was favoring Hillary Clinton during the primary season

The controversy exploded over the weekend after 19,000 hacked emails were published by Wikileaks

Party officials are discussing whether party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz should resign from her role


Democratic party officials are in crisis talks on the eve of the national convention over mounting calls for party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation after she was exposed as biased in a humiliating Wikileaks email hack.

The controversy exploded over the weekend, prompted in part by the publication of some 19,000 hacked emails last week, some of which suggested the Democratic Nation Committee was favoring Hillary Clinton during the primary season.

The revelations prompted runner-up Bernie Sanders to call for Wasserman Schultz's resignation on Sunday - a day before Democrats open their convention in Philadelphia to nominate Clinton as the party's presidential candidate.

The Vermont senator was critical of the Florida congresswoman throughout the primary season, accusing the party of rigging the process in favor of Clinton.

Now, officials are discussing whether Wasserman Schultz should be forced out of her role as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, according to a person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

It came after Wasserman Schultz lost her speaking slot at the party's convention this week as the committee battled the allegations of bias.

Wasserman Schultz will not take to the stage as the party attempts to 'keep the peace,' CNN reported. Sources told the network Wasserman Schultz's role will be to 'gavel in and gavel out.'

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Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (pictured) will not speak at the party's convention in Philadelphia this week, as the committee battles allegations of bias following an email leak

Sen. Bernie Sanders made appearances on the Sunday shows this morning and called the revelations brought to light thanks to the email hack were 'outrageous'

'She's been quarantined,' a high-ranking Democrat reportedly said after a meeting on Saturday night.

The DNC Rules Committee rescinded Wasserman Schultz's position of convention chairwoman, reallocating it to Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, CNN reported.

It comes after a cache of leaked emails from Democratic party leaders' accounts include at least two messages suggesting an insider effort to hobble Bernie Sanders' campaign.

Sanders did the rounds on the Sunday shows this morning, saying on CNN that the revelations were 'outrageous.'

'But it's not a great shock to me,' Sanders said.

'There's no question in my mind and I think there's no question in any objective observer's mind that the DNC was supporting Hillary Clinton and was in opposition to our campaign, so I'm not shocked by this and that is why many, many times I made clear Debbie Wasserman Schultz should resign,' Sanders said on State of the Union.

He renewed those calls today when talking to Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, adding 'nobody has apologized to me.'

'I think these emails reiterate the reason why she should not be chair,' Sanders said of Wasserman Schultz on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

'I think she should resign. Period,' Sanders added when pressed about what role she should play at this week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

A Democratic National Committee spokesman has not responded to a request for comment.

The release Friday of more than 19,000 emails sent and received by seven top Democratic National Committee officials by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks comes at a time when the party is anxious to project an image of unity.

In a May 5 exchange, DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall asked if someone could ask a person he did not name, presumably Sanders, about his religious beliefs in the conservative states of Kentucky and West Virginia.

A massive email leak has potentially undermined the recent truce made between Bernie Sanders (left) and Hillary Clinton (right)

Debbie Wasserman Schultz will not take to the stage at the convention as the party attempts to 'keep the peace', Democrat sources reportedly said

'Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage,' the message said.

'I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.'

Amy Dacey, the committee's CEO, responded in all caps: 'AMEN.

'I am not an atheist,' Sanders said today on CNN in response.

'But aside from all of that, I mean, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign,' the senator added.

The Intercept news website quoted Marshall as saying, 'I do not recall this. I can say it would not have been Sanders. It would probably be about a surrogate.'

Later, however, Marshall apologized in a public post on his Facebook page, Politico reported.

'I deeply regret that my insensitive, emotional emails would cause embarrassment to the DNC, the Chairwoman, and all of the staffers who worked hard to make the primary a fair and open process,' Marshall wrote.

'The comments expressed do not reflect my beliefs nor do they reflect the beliefs of the DNC and its employees. I apologize to those I offended,' he added.

A May 21 email chain discussed Sanders' assertion in an interview that he would oust the party chair once he's elected to the White House.

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gets a hug from DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz during an event in September 2014

In leaked email exchanges, Wasserman Schultz said Sanders 'isn't going to be president', and called him campaign manager Jeff Weaver 'an ASS' and a 'damn liar'

Writing from a Gmail account that media reports said belonged to Schultz, the chairwoman noted, 'This is a silly story. He isn't going to be president.'

In another email exchange, Wasserman Schultz called Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver 'an ASS', after being told Weaver suggested the Sanders campaign continue all the way through to the convention.

She also called Weaver a 'damn liar' and accused him of 'scummy behavior' in relation to comments he made in May about potential protests in Nevada.

In an email conversation from April, Wasserman Schultz took aim at Republican nominee Donald Trump, calling him a 'sexist pig'.

DNC National Press Secretary Mark Paustenbach emailed Wasserman Schultz about comments Trump made during an interview.

'I haven't quite recovered — it's early in the morning — from her shouting that message,' Trump said on MSNBC's Morning Joe when asked about Clinton bringing up his comments on the "\woman card,' Pasutenbach wrote, before continuing with Trump's transcript.

'And I know a lot of people would say you can't say that about a woman, because of course a woman doesn't shout. But the way she shouted that message was not — that's the way she said it, and I guess I'll have to get used to a lot of that over the next four or five months,' Trump had said.

Wasserman Schultz replied: 'Sexist pig.'

In another email thread, dated May 24, the DNC chair desperately tried to score tickets for her and six friends to see Hamilton as part of a birthday celebration in New York.

'Hey Zach, I think I mentioned to you briefly that I am planning a trip with my college roommates in December to NYC,' she wrote to the DNC's fiance director Zach Allen.

'It is for our 50th birthdays. Can you help me get 7 tickets to Hamilton from our friend who did the FR? We will be there from December 9-12.

Wasserman Schultz desperately tried to score tickets for her and six friends to see Hamilton as part of a birthday celebration in New York

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ'S HAMILTON REQUEST Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Hey Zach, I think I mentioned to you briefly that I am planning a trip with my college roommates in December to NYC. It is for our 50th birthdays. Can you help me get 7 tickets to Hamilton from our friend who did the FR? We will be there from December 9-12. Let me know if there is anyone I need to speak with directly. Thank you so much. DWS DNC finance director Zach Allen: Of course, happy to ask! They usually don't take requests until a month out, and I'd need the form attached filled out (dos require a CC - it's $167/seat). I've never seen an order of 7 fulfilled, I have seen as many as 4. Would you guys be willing to split up 4 and 3? I hate to even ask but just want to make this as realistic as possible, it's like the hunger games around this thing. Wasserman Schultz: 4 and 3 on different nights or just not all together? We would want to go on the same night but we don't have to sit all together. DWS Allen: Got it, happy to put that in and see what we can do. Feel free to shoot me a CC# and I'll fill the form out for you. Advertisement

Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook tried to keep the Clinton campaign distanced from the growing scandal, suggesting it was a DNC problem that needed to be sorted out

Talking to Jake Tapper (right) Sunday morning, Robby Mook pointed fingers at Russian hackers for infiltrating the DNC's email system and said Russians were trying to help Donald Trump win

'Let me know if there is anyone I need to speak with directly. Thank you so much.'

Allen replied saying he would be 'happy to ask', and that he would need a credit card to cover the $167 per seat costs.

The email chain did not saying whether the chair secured the seven seats.

Another email chain suggests that the Democratic National Committee encouraged party activists and even interns to attend anti-Donald Trump protests.

During one instance a top staffer huffs over a photograph that shows few people at an anti-Trump protest in Washington, D.C.

'Going forward, when our allies screw up and don’t deliver bodies in time, we either send all our interns out there or we stay away from it.. we don’t want to own a bad picture,' DNC communications director Luis Miranda wrote.

Miranda also persuaded reporters from hand-picked news organizations to write positive pieces about Clinton, while downplaying any grumbling made by Sanders toward the party.

In one instance, Miranda leaks to Wall Street Journal reporter Laura Meckler a letter from the Sanders campaign in which the Vermont senator's campaign complains that his picks for the rules and platform committees were rejected.

A week later, according to the New York Post, Miranda was dismissive of these qualms.

'The only reason the Sanders camp even sent that letter is that [Wasserman Schultz] was courteous enough to reach out to give both camps representation,' he wrote. 'But the appointments ... are at the chair's discretion.'

Speaking to Jake Tapper this morning on State of the Union, Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook tried keeping his candidate an arm's length away from the growing scandal.

'Well, I think the DNC needs to look into this and take appropriate action and I'm sure that they will,' Mook said.

He used a similar line during an appearance on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

'I think the DNC needs to get to the bottom of the facts,' Mook said.

Mook also pointed fingers at Russia.

'What's disturbing to us is that experts are telling us is Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails and other experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump,' he said on State of the Union.

'I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and that's disturbing,' Mook continued.

'I think we need to be concerned about that. I think we also need to be concerned that we also saw last week at the Republican convention that Trump and his allies made changes to the platform to make it more pro-Russian,' Mook added.

A hacker who goes by the name Guccifer 2.0 took credit for the 19,252 emails released Friday morning by Wikileaks.

Investigators looking into the DNC hack have said that Guccifer 2.0 is an operative of the Russian government, which the hacker denies.

Instead, he says he's a Romanian 'hacktivist' and a solo player who dubbed himself after the original hacker Guccifer, also Romanian, who notably hacked into the AOL account of Dorothy Bush Koch, sister to President George W. Bush, revealing his painted self-portrait to the world.

Donald Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort found Mook's defense laughable linking it back to Clinton's own email scandal.

'Dems attack Russia for hacking them but want us to believe that server in HC home was safe from hacking,' Manafort wrote this morning.

'HC put national security at risk!' he added.

Sanders waged a feisty yearlong battle against Clinton in the Democratic primaries. She clinched enough delegates to secure the nomination in early June, but Sanders did not concede defeat and endorse her until July 12.

Sanders remained faithful to Clinton, not holding her responsible for the content of the emails.

'No, no, no, we are going to do everything we can to protect working families in this country,' Sanders said when asked if the DNC shenanigans gave him any pause when it comes to supporting Clinton.

Donald Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort chimed in this morning calling Democrats' charge that Russia hacked the DNC laugable in light of Hillary Clinton's own email scandal

It has been reported Wasserman Schultz wrote in an email 'he isn't going to be president,' in reference to Bernie Sanders

Telephones are setup for delegates ahead of the Democratic National Conventio at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia

Sanders's campaign manager Jeff Weaver, in an interview with ABC News, demanded answers on Saturday about the growing controversy.

'Someone does have to be held accountable,' said Weaver, who said the emails seemed to show misconduct at a very senior level of the DNC.

'We spent 48 hours of public attention worrying about who in the [Donald] Trump campaign was going to be held responsible for the fact that some lines of Mrs. Obama's speech were taken by Mrs. Trump. Someone in the DNC needs to be held at least as accountable as the Trump campaign,' Weaver added.

The Democratic Party, Weaver said, seemed to have 'its fingers on the scale' for Clinton, he added during the interview, which was posted on the television network's website.

'We have an electoral process. The DNC, by its charter, is required to be neutral among the candidates. Clearly it was not.'

Trump pounced on the leaks as he tries to scoop up disaffected voters who feel Sanders was denied a fair shot at the nomination by the political establishment.