In an attempt to head off an ugly conflict at its convention this summer, the Democratic National Committee plans to offer a concession to Sen. Bernie Sanders — seats on a key convention platform committee — but it may not be enough to stop Sanders from picking a fight over the party’s policy positions. Allies of both Clinton and Sanders have urged Democratic leaders to meet some of Sanders’s more mundane demands for greater inclusion at the Philadelphia convention. Their decision to do so is expected to be finalized by the end of the week, according to two people familiar with the discussions. But growing mistrust between Sanders supporters and party leaders have threatened to undermine that effort. Even with the committee assignments, Sanders plans an aggressive effort to extract platform concessions on key policies that could prompt divisive battles at a moment when front-runner Hillary Clinton will be trying to unify the party. Among other issues, he plans to push for a $15 national minimum wage and argue that the party needs a more balanced position regarding Israel and Palestinians, according to a Sanders campaign aide who requested anonymity to speak candidly.

snip

Martin and other Democratic chairmen urged national leaders to give Sanders the concessions he seeks — especially when it comes to the platform, which in the long run does not have a material impact on Democrats’ electoral chances in November. “There are other chairs who probably feel that way and feel like this is my party and f--- Bernie Sanders,” said Martin, a Clinton supporter. “I’m not one of those. “I feel very passionately that we have to open up that party and make sure that those voices are heard,” he said. One of Sanders’s demands was the composition of the 15-person drafting committee, whose members are appointed at Wasserman Schultz’s discretion and write the party’s platform.

snip

Sanders’s aides have also publicly and privately complained about the appointment of two Clinton loyalists — former congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts to head the Rules Committee and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy to lead the Platform Committee — as chairmen of two of the convention’s standing bodies. Tad Devine, a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign, said this week that they may yet seek to have Frank and Malloy removed from their posts. In an interview with CNN Thursday, Clinton noted pointedly that she believes Sanders no longer has a shot at the nomination. She also said that Sanders will need to encourage his supporters to unify behind her, just as she did in 2008 when running against Barack Obama. “I have every confidence that we’re going to be unified,” Clinton said. “I think what brings us together is Donald Trump.”


That hasn’t happened yet. A Sanders spokesman disputed Clinton’s assertion that the nomination is hers. And Sanders has ramped up the rhetoric in recent days, saying after Clinton won Kentucky that he still intends to win the nomination despite an overwhelming disadvantage in delegates. Even if he doesn’t, he still intends to pick a platform fight at the convention, according to a campaign aide who requested anonymity to discuss strategy. Clinton aides have said that on a slew of issues, Sanders is not far from the party. But the issue of U.S. policy toward Israel — which a Sanders adviser said “absolutely, legitimately will be a point of conversation” — has made some of Clinton’s backers nervous. Sanders is seeking a more “even-handed” U.S. approach to Israeli occupation of land Palestinians claim for a future state. The current platform does not address the nearly five-decade occupation directly, but it endorses “a just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian accord, producing two states for two peoples.”

cont'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dnc-to-offer-sanders-a-convention-concession/2016/05/19/99706b54-1df4-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html

PRESS RELEASE






MAY 19, 2016


PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ spokesman, Michael Briggs, on Thursday issued the following statement after Secretary Hillary Clinton told CNN she will be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president:


“In the past three weeks voters in Indiana, West Virginia and Oregon respectfully disagreed with Secretary Clinton. We expect voters in the remaining eight contests also will disagree. And with almost every national and state poll showing Sen. Sanders doing much, much better than Secretary Clinton against Donald Trump, it is clear that millions of Americans have growing doubts about the Clinton campaign.”





https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-statement-clintons-comments/

snip

The judge, Emmet G. Sullivan of United States District Court in Washington, has been sharply critical of the State Department’s handling of the email affair over the last year.

“It just boggles the mind that the State Department allowed this circumstance to arise in the first place,” said Judge Sullivan, who was appointed to the Federal District Court in 1994 by President Clinton. The judge called the email episode “very, very, very troubling.”

Mr. Lukens, a former ambassador to Senegal, was the leadoff witness in the Judicial Watch depositions. He served as executive director of the State Department’s executive secretariat under Mrs. Clinton until 2011, providing her with logistical, administrative and travel support. Judicial Watch said it was seeking his testimony because records that have already been released indicated that he had emailed Ms. Mills and others about Mrs. Clinton’s private email server.

Thomas Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, who took part in Mr. Lukens’s deposition, said afterward that he could not discuss the substance of the testimony because of the ground rules set by Judge Sullivan. But Mr. Fitton predicted that once the testimony is publicly released — perhaps as early as next week — it would show “why the State Department and Mrs. Clinton have slow-rolled this and withheld a complete explanation of what went on with her email system. What we learned is going to be embarrassing to Mrs. Clinton and the administration — maybe more than embarrassing.”

He refused to elaborate, citing the court’s restrictions. After the deposition, State Department lawyers invoked a procedure to review Mr. Lukens’s testimony for three days before deciding whether to ask the judge to keep any parts of it confidential for security or legal reasons. The State Department declined to comment on the deposition.


cont'

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/us/politics/ex-aide-to-hillary-clinton-testifies-on-email.html?1=0&_r=0

PRESS RELEASE





MAY 18, 2016


SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday welcomed an invitation to debate Hillary Clinton in California before the June 7 primary election.

The Clinton and Sanders campaigns in January agreed to hold a debate in May in California, the largest state with the greatest number of delegates at stake. So far, however, the Clinton campaign has balked at keeping that pledge.

“Both campaigns have been invited by Fox News to a debate. We have told the network that we would accept the invitation with the understanding that we can reach mutual agreement on the debate moderators, the format and other details,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager.

Fox News on Tuesday sent letters to Sanders and Clinton requesting their participation in a California debate. The San Francisco Chronicle also has expressed interest in cosponsoring a California debate.

“More than half way through the month of May, we hope Secretary Clinton will soon make good on her campaign’s commitment and agree to a time and pace for a debate,” Weaver added. “There are issues of enormous importance facing the people of California and our nation and the people of our largest state deserve to hear the Democratic candidates opinions.”

Presidential nominating contests often have been decided by the time of California’s June 7 primary, but this year neither candidate yet has enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination.

“That means the people of California have a rare and important opportunity to play a significant role in determining who the Democratic Party nominee for president will be. Before making that choice, Californians deserve to hear what both candidates have to say on important issues confronting the state and the country,” Weaver concluded.





https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-welcomes-california-debate/