--- description: He says the DNC has "stolen" its data. title: Sanders Campaign Threatens Legal Action Over Data image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bf3b866f0b63022/6988761d196cf46c360398b8/bernie-sanders4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Bernie Sanders](/tag/bernie-sanders/) ## Bernie Sanders Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Sanders Campaign Threatens Legal Action Over Data by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 18, 2015 6:21 PM CUT  Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during an interfaith roundtable in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during an interfaith roundtable in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 18, 2015 6:21 PM CUT Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager threatened to sue the Democratic National Committee for blocking access to voter data in the wake of revelations that its staffers improperly accessed Clinton campaign data. Speaking at a tense press conference Friday afternoon, campaign manager Jeff Weaver argued that the DNC’s punishment was an “overreaction” and said they may go to federal court as early as Friday to seek a legal remedy. “If the DNC continues to hold our data hostage, we will be in federal court this afternoon,” he told reporters. Data on likely supporters in various early-voting states is gathered by the campaigns but managed centrally by a vendor for the Democratic National Committee. But each campaign’s records are supposed to be kept separate. Earlier Friday, it was revealed that a staffers on the Sanders campaign was able to improperly access Clinton’s data due to a security glitch in the firewall between campaigns. In response the DNC cut off the Sanders campaign’s access. “We need our data which has been stolen by the DNC,” Weaver said at the close of the press conference. **Read Next:** [_Sanders Campaign’s Breach of Clinton Data More Serious Than Disclosed_](http://time.com/4155185/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-data/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4155319/sanders-campaign-threatens-legal-action-over-data/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4155319/sanders-campaign-threatens-legal-action-over-data/"},"headline":"Sanders Campaign Threatens Legal Action Over Data","datePublished":"2015-12-18T18:21:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:30:23.053Z","description":"He says the DNC has \"stolen\" its data.","url":"https://time.com/4155319/sanders-campaign-threatens-legal-action-over-data/","keywords":["Bernie Sanders","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bf3b866f0b63022/6988761d196cf46c360398b8/bernie-sanders4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bf3b866f0b63022/6988761d196cf46c360398b8/bernie-sanders4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during an interfaith roundtable in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.","caption":"Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during an interfaith roundtable in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bernie-sanders/","name":"Bernie Sanders"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4155319/sanders-campaign-threatens-legal-action-over-data/","name":"Sanders Campaign Threatens Legal Action Over Data"}}]}] ```