BREAKING NEWS, Foreign
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Bernie Sanders is expected to urge his supporters to rally behind Hillary Clinton when he speaks at the party’s convention in Philadelphia later
THE Vermont senator will set out the case for her being a “far superior” candidate to Republican Donald Trump.
But his supporters have been holding protests in Philadelphia, saying they will never vote for Mrs Clinton.
The convention gets under way with a leaked email scandal threatening to overshadow it.
Wikileaks released emails that show the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which runs the party, was biased against Mr Sanders when he ran against Mrs Clinton in the hard-fought primary contest.
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned on Sunday as pressure built on the party to address the scandal.
And on Monday, she was jeered as she tried to speak to Florida delegates at a breakfast meeting at the convention.
Mrs Clinton’s campaign team has said the hackers who accessed the DNC emails were Russians who want Mr Trump to win the election.
One of the emails from a Democratic party official suggested raising Mr Sanders’ faith as a means to discredit him. Other emails openly disparaged him and expressed a preference for his rival.
The revelation has angered Mr Sanders’ supporters, who had long claimed that the party’s governing body, which was meant to remain neutral, had favoured the former secretary of state.
On Sunday, many of them marched through Philadelphia to show their support for Mr Sanders and their disdain for Mrs Clinton.
There were chants of “Hell No, DNC, we won’t vote for Hillary” and “This is what democracy looks like”. More rallies are planned on Monday.
Darcy Samek, 54, made the trip from Minneapolis to protest and said it was well known the party had been against Mr Sanders.
“Everyone kind of knew but that doesn’t mean it will change now that it’s proven'” she said. “It’s just more of the same.”
Mr Sanders himself said he was not surprised by the emails but he wanted to focus on helping the party beat Donald Trump.
A statement from his campaign said his speech on Monday would “make it clear that Hillary Clinton is by far superior to Donald Trump on every major issue from economics and health care to education and the environment”.
Before he takes the stage at the Wells Fargo Center, there will be speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama, liberal firebrand Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Governor Cory Booker.
About 5,000 party delegates are among the 50,000 people expected to attend the four-day convention, which will end on Thursday with Mrs Clinton formally accepting the nomination for president.
The Democratic convention — all you need to know
1. What is the point? At a convention, each party formally nominates its candidates for president and vice-president, and the party unveils its party platform, or manifesto.
2. Who is going? There are about 5,000 delegates attending, selected at state and congressional district conventions, and representing each US state and territory. Plus about 15,000 journalists and tens of thousands of other party grandees, lawmakers and guests.
3. What is the schedule?
- Monday speakers – First Lady Michelle Obama, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders,
- Tuesday – Former President Bill Clinton, Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton
- Wednesday – President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden
- Thursday – Hillary Clinton, introduced by daughter Chelsea
— Jul 25, 2016 @ 16:20 GMT
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