US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders regained access to crucial voter files on Friday after taking the Democratic National Committee to court and accusing party leaders of trying to und
US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders regained access to crucial voter files on Friday after taking the Democratic National Committee to court and accusing party leaders of trying to undermine his White House bid and help rival Hillary Clinton.
The DNC had blocked access to the voter data after a Sanders campaign staffer improperly accessed Ms Clinton’s voter files, prompting charges of theft from the Clinton campaign and setting off a bitter political fight in what had been a relatively peaceful Democratic nominating race.
The DNC agreed to restore access to the files after Mr Sanders sued the committee, accusing it of improperly suspending the campaign’s access to the voter data. The DNC said the Sanders campaign had supplied information about the breach and promised to cooperate with an investigation.
“Based on this information, we are restoring the Sanders campaign’s access to the voter file, but will continue to investigate to ensure that the data that was inappropriately accessed has been deleted and is no longer in possession of the Sanders campaign,” DNC chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.
The political brawl came one day before a debate between the presidential rivals, fuelling rising tensions and highlighting complaints from Mr Sanders and his liberal allies that the Democratic Party is trying to help Ms Clinton, particularly by limiting the number of debates and scheduling them on low-viewership periods like Saturday nights.
