Donna Brazile has message for those who want her to 'shut up'
WATCH One-on-one with former DNC chair Donna Brazile
Former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile has a message for those who want her to "shut up" about her time leading her party during the 2016 election.
“For those who are telling me to shut up, they told Hillary that a couple of months ago" when Clinton published her book on the election, Brazile told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on "This Week" Sunday.
"You know what I tell them, ‘Go to hell.’ I’m going to tell my story," Brazile said, ahead of the release of her new book on the 2016 election, “Hacks: The Inside Story Of The Break-Ins And Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump In The White House.”
Brazile also addressed the revelation in her book that she considered replacing Clinton as the presidential nominee after she collapsed at a 9/11 memorial ceremony on Sept. 11, 2016, in New York City, less than two months before Election Day.
The then-chair of the DNC said she weighed replacing Clinton with Joe Biden, who was at the time vice president.
Brazile said she was “under tremendous pressure” to have a backup plan ready in case it became necessary for Clinton to drop out of the presidential race because of her health.
“I didn’t want to have a plan B. Plan A was great for me," the former Democratic chair said. "I supported Hillary and I wanted her to win, but we were under pressure.”
As DNC chair, Brazile did not have the power to replace the nominee on her own, but she could have initiated the process.
Brazile had taken over as chair of the DNC during the Democratic National Convention in July 2016, following the resignation of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., amid fallout from WikiLeaks emails that appeared to show favoritism by DNC officials toward Clinton over her primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Brazile said she considered “a lot of other combinations” for a possible ticket and thought Biden running with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., would be the best option.
She declined to say whether she thinks a Biden-Booker ticket could have won the general election against Republican Donald Trump.
“This is something you play out in your mind,” Brazile told Stephanopoulos on "This Week." “The bottom line is [Clinton] resumed campaigning. I went on TV to say that the campaign was back on track.”
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Top Clinton staffers wrote an open letter responding to Brazile, saying they were “shocked” to learn the former DNC chair considered replacing Clinton.
“It is particularly troubling and puzzling that [Brazile] would seemingly buy into false Russian-fueled propaganda, spread by both the Russians and our opponent, about our candidate’s health,” former Hillary for America staffers wrote in the letter published Saturday night.
Stephanopoulos said some "passionate Democrats" feel betrayed by Brazile's account. "Any regrets?" he asked.
"Do I regret taking on a job the second time in my life as chair of the party, cleaning up everyone's mess, taking all of the incoming, being unable to spend funds that I raised?" Brazile said. "Do I regret being … hacked by the Russians?"
It "was worse than Hurricane Katrina in terms of the emotional toll," the Louisiana native added. “As somebody who went through the hacking experience, being able to tell the truth about what happened with the Russians, the attack on our government, do I regret any of that? No, I wish I could have done more."
- Star
