The explosive excerpts from former DNC Interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile's new book - the aptly titled "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House" - just keep coming, with today's bombshell arriving courtesy of the Huffington Post. In an ironic twist, considering Clinton's feminist bona fides, Brazile dishes on the sexist behavior that a certain all-male cohort of senior Hillary Clinton aides displayed toward her when she was running the DNC.
Brazile said the patronizing behavior of the Clinton aides made her so furious that, during one particularly contentious conference call, she said “gentlemen, let’s just put our dicks out on the table and see who’s got the bigger one, because I know mine is bigger than all of yours."
Yashar Ali, the reporter who wrote the story, was a co-chair of Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008, but no longer engages in political activity, according to a disclosure in the Huffington Post piece.
Two previous excerpts - one that was published in essay format by Politico, and another that was leaked to the Washington Post - revealed how the Clinton campaign and former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz helped drive the DNC to the edge of bankruptcy before signing a joint fundraising allowing the DNC a “starvation diet” of money to fund its data, technology, analytics, research, and communications functions while the Clinton campaign would get veto power over hires in these areas, as well as the power of review over “strategic” and “general election related” decisions and communications in these areas.
These functions, Brazile claimed, effectively allowed the Clinton campaign to rig the Democratic primary against the insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders. While top Democrats have denied or ridiculed Brazile’s claims (with one group of Clinton staffers accusing her of succumbing to Russian propaganda), they have telling acknowledged that the DNC is planning to review its use of joint fundraising agreements.
Of course, Brazile later walked back some of her allegations during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” over the weekend, when she said there was no evidence that Clinton had rigged the primary.
On Saturday, WaPo revealed that Brazile briefly contemplated using her emergency powers to replace Clinton and Tim Kaine with Joe Biden and Corey Booker as Clinton struggled with a particularly nasty bout of pneumonia - a revelation that appeared to validate the doubts about Clinton’s health expressed by conservative media outlets.
Brazile also wrote that she feared for her life after former DNC staffer Seth Rich was murdered, suspecting that shadowy elements within the Clinton campaign may have had Rich killed as retribution for leaking the DNC emails to Wikileaks. She also shared how, during one particularly grueling conference call, she exploded and accused several Clinton staffers of treating her like "Patsy the Slave."
Circling back to Ali’s reporting, the book is highly critical of Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook, saying, “He had the habit of nodding when you are talking, leaving you with the impression that he has listened to you, but then never seeming to follow up on what you thought you agreed on.” Brazile adds, however, that when she saw him at the DNC convention, he was “warm and treated me with respect."
However, Brazile couldn’t say the same about many of Mook’s top aides.
The book also says all of Mook’s top aides were men: “The young men that surrounded Robby Mook - and they were all men in his inner circle - had mastered a cool and removed style of politics.” However, Mook’s chief of staff, campaign chief operating officer, communications director and rapid response director were women.
Brazile says her relationship with Mook got so bad that she told Clinton’s chief administrative officer Charlie Baker, “Charlie, I’m about to kill Robby and it ain’t going to be pretty."
According to the book, a big bone of contention between Brazile and Mook was Mook’s refusal to allow Brazile to hire a temporary CEO for the DNC. Brazile says she wanted to get the party back on its feet after Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned in response to Wikileaks emails revealing she was trying to sabotage Sanders. Brazile pushed to hire longtime Democratic aide Tom McMahon, she says.
But a source familiar with Mook’s thinking says he thought McMahon was a good choice, and on Aug. 2, 2016, Brazile announced McMahon was joining the DNC on an interim basis.
Recalling what she describes as a tension-filled conference call with Mook and his team of top aides about hiring a temporary CEO for the party, Brazile says, “I have worked with men all my life in politics and I can sense when they get to this part about not being able to deal with a woman. This is not a racial thing. This was a gender thing."
Brazile says that she interjected at one point in the conference call and said, “You know, this does not feel like a negotiation to me. This feels like power and control. Gentlemen, let’s just put our dicks out on the table and see who’s got the bigger one, because I know mine is bigger than all of yours.” A former Clinton aide confirmed Brazile made the comment, but doesn’t believe a call focused on hiring McMahon occurred.
Of course, HuffPo allowed one anonymous Clinton aide to rebut Brazile’s claims.
“Given that she already had to walk back her claims about a rigged nomination and was caught buying into a right-wing conspiracy about Hillary’s health, I’m not sure how much more of this book people should take seriously.”