AP Photo Clinton team accuses Sanders of theft 'We are particularly disturbed right now that they are using the fact that they stole data as a reason to raise money for their campaign,' Clinton aide Mook says.

Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook on Friday lashed out at Bernie Sanders' campaign over a data breach he characterized as a multimillion-dollar theft of the front-runner's voter files that the underdog's campaign was now using to make money.

"This was not an inadvertent glimpse into our data, it was not as the Sanders campaign has described it, as a mistake," Mook said on a conference call with reporters hours after the news broke.


"They have, in fact, stored the data that they found on the file, data that belonged to us," he said. "The Sanders campaign has tried to downplay what this means, so I want to be very, very clear: This was data that took millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to build."

Sanders' campaign admitted its staffers had inappropriately reviewed and saved Clinton campaign data made available as a result of a software error. In response, the Democratic National Committee suspended Sanders' access to the database, effectively crippling the underdog's ground game — and leading Sanders to sue the party in federal court on Friday night for breach of contract.

Late Friday, after discussions with the DNC and a federal judge, Sanders' campaign announced it will regain access to the national voter file Saturday morning. However, the Sanders camp would not be dropping its lawsuit, a person close to the situation added. As part of the agreement, the Sanders camp agreed to an audit of its data.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon welcomed the late-night resolution.

Earlier, Mook had rejected the Sanders' team efforts to make itself look like the victim of a DNC effort to help Clinton win. He said Sanders now has access to the "fundamental keys of our campaign" and the "strategic road map."

"We are particularly disturbed right now that they are using the fact that they stole data as a reason to raise money for their campaign," he said.