Priebus on DNC hacking: 'The whole thing was a fraud'

Outgoing Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's new position as honorary campaign chair with Hillary Clinton's campaign only underscores that the Florida congresswoman was "in the tank" for the former secretary of state, according to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

"But the DNC was in the tank and the whole thing was a fraud. But it also probably a made-up position that people do when folks transition out of embarrassing situations," Priebus said in an interview aired Monday on "Fox & Friends," a day after Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation, effective following the convention, after a massive email leak showed her favoritism toward Clinton over Sanders during the primary process.


Priebus speculated that Clinton and her campaign would call for an "investigation," making air quotes.

"But the truth is they were benefiting from it all. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary Clinton knew full well that the DNC was working with them and for them the whole way through, and now they're going to sort of act that they didn't know what was going on," he said in the interview conducted Sunday with Brian Kilmeade. "They knew exactly what was going on. I'm sure there were comms people and senior staffers at the DNC communicating regularly with Hillary Clinton's campaign. And if people were out there in favor of Bernie Sanders, they should be outraged by what they saw here at the DNC."

Asked whether a hack of the RNC's communications might reveal him to be in a similarly compromising situation after a bloody primary season, Priebus was adamant that would not be the case.

"Because, listen, I don't put a lot in emails. I don't do that," Priebus explained. "By the way, my staff has all the passwords to all of my email accounts, and so when you send me an email, it's, a lot of people can see the email. I know that. I don't write a whole lot in return."

Priebus acknowledged his party's "drama-filled primary" but remarked that it "ultimately chose the candidate that had that sort of grassroots momentum of change that really changed a lot of the entire primary season for the Republican Party" and the Democrats did not. "And they suppressed those people on the other side," Priebus said, alluding to Sanders and his supporters.

"And they're going to try to force-feed these folks in Philadelphia, this soup they don't want to eat. That's the whole thing with the Republican Party. I think one thing that people concluded about me and the RNC is that ultimately we played it down the middle," he said. "I think you saw that with the convention last week. It was well run. When it was time to call Donald Trump the presumptive nominee, we did. I fought Donald Trump on some things along the way in regard to this accusation of delegate allocation and rigged system. And I did that very publicly. We have a lot of respect for each other. But ultimately I, we ran our operation by the rules."

As far as Sanders maintaining his endorsement of Clinton and retaining his prime-time speaking slot Monday night, Priebus suggested "that there could be a change in what he's going to say," adding that to not change his speech would be "just laying down, otherwise you're just a puppy dog for the party."

"And I don't think he's a puppy dog," Priebus said of Sanders.