Home > Work > Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House
21 " data. Tom was alarmed, fearing that in these crucial last days before the election the DNC system was giving campaigns false data. "
― Donna Brazile , Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House
22 " And who was going to believe that a grandma with pneumonia would go to her daughter’s house to recover with two vulnerable little ones around? The situation had to be pretty dangerous for her to risk exposing the grandbabies. The whole story stank, and the way the campaign handled it just made matters worse. Amid this breakdown in messaging, the press and some folks inside the Democratic Party had begun to speculate how to replace Hillary as the candidate. "
23 " The next morning, Monday, September 12, I snuck into the office through a back door. Reporters were camped out on the steps of the DNC. Journalist David Shuster had reported that a meeting on the future of Hillary’s candidacy was imminent, although I had not called one. When I got to my desk I found I was the most popular person in the Democratic Party. "
24 " First I heard from Joe Biden’s chief of staff, asking if I had time to speak with the vice president a little later that day. Gee, I wonder what he wanted to talk to me about? I got an email from Martin O’Malley, whose campaign "
25 " much yourself at that moment. I kept it together at the office but when I got home, Jeremy Peters from the New York Times reached me on my landline. In my emotional state, I was unguarded. He quoted me in his piece saying, “This is like an 18-wheeler smacking into us, and it just becomes a huge distraction at the worst possible time. We don’t want it to knock us off our game. But on the second-to-last weekend of the race, we find ourselves having to tell voters, ‘Keep your focus; keep your eyes on the prize.’” My statement was not much appreciated in Brooklyn "
26 " want to talk about the arrogance and isolation of the Clinton campaign and the cult of Robby Mook, who felt fresh but turned up stale, in a campaign haunted by ghosts and lacking in enthusiasm, focus, and heart. More than that, Hillary’s campaign and the legacy project of the outgoing Obamas drained the party of its vitality and its cash, a huge contributing factor to our defeats in state and local races. "
27 " I had promised Bernie when I took the position of interim chair of the DNC that I would get to the bottom of whether or not Hillary’s team had rigged the party process in her favor so that only she would win the nomination. "
28 " While you’re laughing, the hackers are dropping malware into your system. They can also use voice mail if the phone system is integrated with the computer network. In the case of Cozy Bear, a voice purporting to be a female journalist left messages on DNC staffers’ phones asking for information on a story. While the listener was playing the message, she was unknowingly accepting malware. "
29 " We no longer used the DNC email system for important communications. Any sensitive phone calls took place via FaceTime audio, and we were advised not to talk freely while standing in front of a window. "
30 " The hotel hosting the meeting threatened to shut me down for serving alcohol without a license, but somehow the DNC staff made that problem disappear. "
31 " I remember the day I jotted down that advice in the sage green notebook I used for my cyberbriefings. At the top I put a gold-and-purple logo sticker from LSU, my alma mater, and at the left corner below, a midnight blue circle with white letters that said VOTE FOR SETH RICH. "
32 " To Robby’s boys, my moment of glory had been the Gore campaign, which we lost. To them my campaign knowledge was from a bygone era. The common wisdom was that my inability to accept that things were different now was what was making me so feisty (meaning “unpleasant to work with”), but the truth was that no matter how much noise I made, my thoughts were irrelevant to them. I saw myself as making a sacrifice to help the party. They saw me as desperate for significance and trying to claw my way back into the national conversation. This was so off the mark it made me laugh, and it was also very useful information. "
33 " They were in a much different mood than I was. I was the bummer in the back seat. My mood brought everyone down. I was not joking. I was very focused and had a lot on my mind. The Javits Center seemed eerie to me. People were partying when I felt like they should be working. I saw Stevie Wonder, a man I have known since I first started working in politics, and the first thing I wanted to say was, Can you make phone calls? We need to get people out to the polls in Detroit. "
34 " The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey and Robby Mook with a copy to Marc Elias—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings. "
35 " I didn’t believe that these nice liberals would have missed seeing the film 12 Years a Slave, in which Solomon Northup’s friend Patsey was played so well by Lupita Nyong’o, who won the Oscar for the role. “Patsey the slave!” I said. “Y’all keep whipping me and whipping me and you never give me any money or any way to do my damn job. I am not going to be your whipping girl! From this time on, we’re keeping the money we raise, is that clear? Patsey is keeping her money!” I could "
36 " was making me crazy to be there. We still had to fight. I walked out of the Javits Center into the crowded streets of Manhattan feeling very lonely. Didn’t people know? Didn’t they see? I got back to my desk at the boiler room and started another round of calls. I stayed in the boiler room until 2 a.m., even though when they called Pennsylvania for Trump I knew it was over. "
37 " the moderators and the audience back onto Hillary. When people asked him about his taxes, he bragged about not paying much, and blamed Hillary for writing the tax laws to favor her and her rich friends. Never mind that Hillary has not served in Congress, the branch of government that writes the tax laws. "
38 " As I stood up to walk to the spin room I saw that it was different for this debate. We were surrounded by gossip columnists. I was interviewed by a reporter from Inside Edition. The campaign had become a reality television show. "
39 " would be grieving, and I wanted to be there for them. I texted Patrice as I got onto the 9:00 Acela to DC. My body felt heavy and my spirit was dragging as I slumped into my seat feeling the defeat. As the train pulled out of New York City my phone rang. It was Robby Mook. “Madam Chair, I’m so sorry,” he said. I could hear the tears in his voice. “I’m so sorry.” “I know, Robby,” I said. “You did your best. You worked hard. We all did.” After we hung up, I turned off my phone. People would be calling me now as it was getting close to nine and I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. We needed time to grieve. I had to muster courage to face the staff. "
40 " That’s a New Orleans word I’ve heard nowhere else. The boobatoir is that room of the house where you lay down and binge-watch television. It’s the place where you kick off your shoes and set down your purse after a long day. Mine had a comfy sofa and a nice big television. "