--- title: DNC Apologizes to Bernie Sanders and Supporters description: The Democratic National Committee has apologized to Bernie Sanders after leaked emails showed party officials wanted to halt Sanders rise canonical: https://time.com/4422715/bernie-sanders-dnc-apology-leaked-emails/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-25T21:07:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:32:01.747Z article:section: Politics og:title: DNC Apologizes to Bernie Sanders and Supporters Over Leaked Emails og:description: "We want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders" og:url: https://time.com/4422715/bernie-sanders-dnc-apology-leaked-emails/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt738c1bf898e7e53f/69889f2e524fc0ba66df8e01/dnc_sanders_aplogy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: A delegate and Bernie Sanders supporter wears a custom coat at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: DNC Apologizes to Bernie Sanders and Supporters Over Leaked Emails twitter:description: "We want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt738c1bf898e7e53f/69889f2e524fc0ba66df8e01/dnc_sanders_aplogy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # DNC Apologizes to Bernie Sanders and Supporters Over Leaked Emails > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Jul 25, 2016 9:07 PM UTC  A delegate and Bernie Sanders supporter wears a custom Bernie coat at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25, 2016. A delegate and Bernie Sanders supporter wears a custom Bernie coat at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25, 2016. Jim Young—Reuters by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Jul 25, 2016 9:07 PM UTC The Democratic National Committee apologized to Bernie Sanders after leaked emails showed former Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and top DNC officials criticizing the Vermont Senator’s campaign during the primary. The emails, released by WikiLeaks, came shortly before the Democratic National Convention, which kicked off Monday in Philadelphia. On Sunday, [Schultz said she would resign](http://time.com/4421045/debbie-wasserman-schultz-dnc-chair-resign-convention/) after the convention, where she will not speak. “On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic party for inexcusable remarks made over email,” the statement reads. “The DNC does not — and will not — tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates.” The apology comes as Sanders delegates [booed the Vermont senator when he spoke about party unity earlier](http://time.com/4422167/democratic-convention-bernie-sanders-boos/?xid=homepage) on Monday and later booed references to Clinton as the convention formally began. Delegates also shouted Sanders’ name during the convention’s opening prayer and repeatedly interrupted the convention’s opening proceedings. On Sunday, Sanders [called for Schultz’s resignation](http://time.com/4420912/bernie-sanders-dnc-wikileaks-debbie-wasserman-schultz/) over the emails. > [](https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/757674402087665664) “I am going to be respectful of you,” said Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, permanent chair of the Democratic convention, around 4:45 p.m. in Philadelphia as the crowd jeered and cheered. “And I want you to be respectful of me. We are all Democrats, and we need to act like it. Let’s do it!” Read the DNC apology to Sanders in full below: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4422715/bernie-sanders-dnc-apology-leaked-emails/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4422715/bernie-sanders-dnc-apology-leaked-emails/"},"headline":"DNC Apologizes to Bernie Sanders and Supporters Over Leaked Emails","datePublished":"2016-07-25T21:07:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:32:01.747Z","description":"'We want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders'","url":"https://time.com/4422715/bernie-sanders-dnc-apology-leaked-emails/","keywords":["Democratic National Convention","Bernie Sanders","Democratic National Committee"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt738c1bf898e7e53f/69889f2e524fc0ba66df8e01/dnc_sanders_aplogy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt738c1bf898e7e53f/69889f2e524fc0ba66df8e01/dnc_sanders_aplogy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A delegate and Bernie Sanders supporter wears a custom coat at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia","caption":"A delegate and Bernie Sanders supporter wears a custom Bernie coat at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25, 2016.","creditText":"Jim Young—Reuters","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/democratic-national-convention/","name":"Democratic National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4422715/bernie-sanders-dnc-apology-leaked-emails/","name":"DNC Apologizes to Bernie Sanders and Supporters Over Leaked Emails"}}]}] ```