DNC leader quits amid e-mail leaks; thousands march for Sanders

Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders march in Philadelphia on Sunday, the day before the start of the Democratic National Convention in the city. The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee resigned on Sunday amid the fallout of leaked emails that appeared to show the DNC supported the party's presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton over Sanders, which sparked another protest. Alex Brandon / Ap

The Democratic Party chairwoman resigned on Sunday amid a furor over leaked e-mails, hoping to head off a rebellion by Bernie Sanders supporters, who marched in the thousands on the eve of the convention in Philadelphia that will nominate Hillary Clinton for president.

Bitterness from a heated campaign erupted after more than 19,000 Democratic National Committee e-mails, leaked on Friday by wikileaks.org, bolstered Sanders' charge that the party played favorites.

In a statement, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said her stepping down was the best way for the party to accomplish its goal of electing Clinton.

Sanders had demanded that Wasserman Schultz resign.

DNC Vice-Chairwoman Donna Brazile will serve as interim chairwoman through the election.

The controversy was a blow to a party keen on projecting stability as it prepares to face Republican candidate Donald Trump, who was nominated in Cleveland last week. The four-day Democratic convention will open on Monday at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.

The New York Times reported that former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg will endorse Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state, in a prime-time speech on Monday.

Sanders said Wasserman Schultz, a member of Congress from Florida, said her leaving was the right decision. "The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race," he said.

Among the leaked e-mails was talk of exploiting whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist.

Brad Marshall, the DNC's chief financial officer, apologized on Facebook on July 23 for an e-mail in which he discussed how some voters in primaries in Kentucky and West Virginia would reject an atheist.

"He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage," Marshall wrote in a May 5 e-mail to three top DNC officials. No names were mentioned, but Sanders was the only Jewish candidate. "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."

The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the e-mail hacking to help Trump, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"What's disturbing to us is that experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails and other experts are now saying that Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of helping Donald Trump," Clinton campaign chairman Robby Mook said on CNN.

Sanders, an independent US senator from Vermont who ran for president as a Democrat, galvanized young and liberal voters with his calls to rein in Wall Street and eradicate income inequality.

"I'm not shocked, but I'm disappointed," Sanders said of the e-mails earlier on Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

Many Sanders supporters were already dismayed by Clinton's choice on July 22 of low-key US Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate. Kaine, who could appeal to independents and moderates, has never been aligned with party liberals.

Sanders, who has endorsed Clinton and will speak on her behalf to the convention on Monday, said he would have preferred US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as the vice-presidential candidate.

"Tim is a very, very smart guy. He is a very nice guy," Sanders said on NBC's "Meet the Press". He is more conservative than I am. Would I have preferred to see somebody like an Elizabeth Warren selected by Secretary Clinton? Yes, I would have."

About four miles from the arena, demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday, cheering, chanting and beating drums in the first major protests before the convention, as the city coped with a heat wave.

Chanting "Hell No, DNC, we won't vote for Hillary" and "This is what democracy looks like", the marchers headed from City Hall down Broad Street, the main north-south artery that leads from the city center to the convention site.

"It (the e-mail leak) just validated everything we thought, everything we believed to be true, that this was completely rigged right from the beginning, and that you know it was really about what they were doing everything to set it up so she would win," Sanders supporter Gwen Sperling said.

"Everyone kind of knew (the Democratic Party was against Bernie Sanders), but that doesn't mean it will change now that it's proven. It's just more of the same," said Darcy Samek, 54, of Minneapolis.

Earlier Sunday, thousands of clean energy activists jammed a downtown street in their mile-long march from City Hall to Independence Hall. They held anti-fracking and anti-pipeline signs.