--- title: Donna Brazile Calls Clinton Fundraising a "Cancer" description: Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile called Hillary Clinton's fundraising deal "the cancer" of the Democratic Party in her book. canonical: https://time.com/5008051/dnc-donna-brazile-clinton-campaign/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-02T20:51:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:06:01.651Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile Calls Clinton Fundraising Deal a 'Cancer' og:description: An excerpt from her book was published online og:url: https://time.com/5008051/dnc-donna-brazile-clinton-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc565b91d2eeb812/6988e46cab6d77524f6b078f/donna-brazile.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: SiriusXM's Progress Channel Presents: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, A Women's History Month Panel Featuring Donna Brazile, Minyon Moore, Leah Daughtry & Yolanda Caraway og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile Calls Clinton Fundraising Deal a 'Cancer' twitter:description: An excerpt from her book was published online twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc565b91d2eeb812/6988e46cab6d77524f6b078f/donna-brazile.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile Calls Clinton Fundraising Deal a 'Cancer'  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 2, 2017 8:51 PM UTC  Donna Brazile, center, called Hillary Clinton's fundraising practices a "cancer" in an excerpt from her book, published online Thursday. Donna Brazile, center, called Hillary Clinton's fundraising practices a "cancer" in an excerpt from her book, published online Thursday.Larry French—Getty Images for SiriusXM  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 2, 2017 8:51 PM UTC Former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile called Hillary Clinton’s fundraising practices “the cancer” of the Democratic Party in a [fiery book excerpt published Thursday on Politico](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774). Brazile, who served as interim DNC chair leading up to the 2016 election, had promised former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) that she would investigate whether Clinton’s campaign rigged the nomination process ahead of the election. In the course of her research, she writes, she learned about a joint fundraising agreement among the DNC, Clinton’s campaign and the campaign’s fundraising arm. Under the agreement, Brazile explained, Clinton’s campaign provided a $2 million loan to the debt-ridden DNC, and took advantage of a loophole in campaign finance law to use the party “as a fund-raising clearinghouse.” In essence, the deal allowed the Clinton campaign to control the party, and its finances, well before securing the Democratic nomination, or even officially entering the presidential race. Brazile, by her account, was “in agony” when she dialed Sanders to tell him what she had found. “Hello, senator,” she remembered saying. “I’ve completed my review of the DNC and I did find the cancer. But I will not kill the patient.” You can read the full excerpt from Brazile’s book _Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House_, [here](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5008051/dnc-donna-brazile-clinton-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5008051/dnc-donna-brazile-clinton-campaign/"},"headline":"Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile Calls Clinton Fundraising Deal a 'Cancer'","datePublished":"2017-11-02T20:51:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:06:01.651Z","description":"The fiery excerpt was published on Politico","url":"https://time.com/5008051/dnc-donna-brazile-clinton-campaign/","keywords":["Election 2016","hillary clinton","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc565b91d2eeb812/6988e46cab6d77524f6b078f/donna-brazile.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc565b91d2eeb812/6988e46cab6d77524f6b078f/donna-brazile.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SiriusXM's Progress Channel Presents: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, A Women's History Month Panel Featuring Donna Brazile, Minyon Moore, Leah Daughtry & Yolanda Caraway","caption":"SiriusXM's Progress Channel Presents: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, A Women's History Month Panel Featuring Donna Brazile, Minyon Moore, Leah Daughtry & Yolanda Caraway","creditText":"Larry French—Getty Images for SiriusXM","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/election-2016/","name":"Election 2016"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5008051/dnc-donna-brazile-clinton-campaign/","name":"Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile Calls Clinton Fundraising Deal a 'Cancer'"}}]}] ```