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Score one for former Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang. A federal appeals court on Tuesday agreed with a lower federal court judge’s ruling that the Democratic presidential primary contest must be included on the ballot when New York holds its primary on June 23. *snip* Sanders, the populist senator from Vermont, suspended his presidential campaign in April and endorsed presumptive nominee Joe Biden a week later. But Sanders pledged to keep his name on the ballot in all upcoming primaries and caucuses to accumulate as many delegates as possible at this summer’s convention.

The stunning revelation by longtime operative Donna Brazile that the Hillary Clinton campaign secretly took control — literal control — of the Democratic National Committee a year before Hillary became the party’s nominee is the talk of American politics. As it should be. Brazile’s piece in Politico describes her shock at the discovery of formal legal paperwork between the two entities when she took the reins at the DNC in August 2016. Brazile had been tapped for the job when DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign. Leaked e-mails had shown how Schultz had been putting her finger...

In her new book Hacks, Donna Brazile — the former interim Democratic National Committee chairwoman — alleges that Hillary Clinton “rigged the [party’s] nomination process” against populist candidate Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primaries. “I had found my proof [of rigging] and it broke my heart,” wrote Brazile in an exerpt of her book published by Politico Magazine today. The said rigging, according to Brazile, was discovered in an agreement and explained as follows: “The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook [Clinton campaign manager] with a copy to Marc Elias—specified that in exchange...

On October 10, Wikileaks released part two of their emails from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. Friday, Wikileaks released their first batch of Podesta’s emails, which included excerpts from Clinton’s Wall Street transcripts that reaffirmed why Clinton refused to release them in full. During the second presidential debate, Clinton confirmed their authenticity by attempting to defend one statement she made in the speech about having a public and private stance on political issues. She cited Abraham Lincoln, a defense comparable to her ridiculous invocation of 9/11 when pressed on her ties to Wall Street during a Democratic primary debate. The...

If completed, the pipeline, which has spent the past decade in political and legal limbo, would help carry some 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to refineries in Texas. Although Biden’s climate plan was more ambitious than anything proposed by Obama, it attracted criticism from liberals who faulted Biden for not pledging to ban fracking and for attending a fundraiser co-hosted by a co-founder of a natural gas company. Beyond that, Biden’s environmental critics worry he will not try to rein in greenhouse gas emissions as aggressively as climate scientists say is necessary. In 2018, a panel...

Sen. Bernie Sanders has run for the White House two straight times. But the 78-year old populist lawmaker from Vermont is making it clear that the odds of a launching a third campaign for president -- when he'd be in his 80's -- are extremely low. “I think it’s very, very unlikely that I will be running for president ever again,” Sanders said Monday in an interview with the Washington Post.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) addressed the sexual assault allegation faced by former Vice President Joe Biden (D) during an interview with NPR on Thursday, explaining that it was not a "clear cut" situation for Democrats. Questioned on what she wanted to see happen in response to Tara Reade's allegation of a 1993 assault, which Biden has publicly denied, the New York lawmaker noted that Reade herself had not called on Democrats to abandon their support of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. "It's very difficult because this is a hyper-politicized zone, right? Instead of focusing on her account, instead of focusing...

First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. WASHINGTON — A month ago, a California woman — Tara Reade — alleged that apparent Democratic nominee Joe Biden assaulted her 27 years ago when she worked for Biden in his Senate office, a charge that Biden vehemently denies. “No, it is not true. I am saying unequivocally — it never happened,” Biden said onMSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday morning. It's a complicated story, colored by Biden's past history of touching women (though never before in...

So that long farewell from Bernie Sanders wasn't such a long farewell. Actually, Bernie never left the race, even though he said he had suspended his campaign, and New York state, doing what seemed logical, called off its one-candidate primary. Now Joe Biden has another problem. Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign blasted the New York State Board of Elections’ announcement on Monday that his name would not appear on the ballot for the state's presidential primary in June, calling the move an "outrage" and "a blow to American democracy." "Just last week Vice President Biden warned the American people that President...

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Tuesday night that she believes the Democratic Party has an obligation to examine a sexual assault allegation made against presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden by Tara Reade, his former aide when he served as Delaware's senator. In response to a question about the allegations during an online conversation with The Wing—a group dedicated to the "professional, civic, social, and economic advancement of women through community"—Ocasio-Cortez said, "I think it's legitimate to talk about these things." "If we again want to have integrity, you can't say, you know, both believe women, support...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday endorsed Joe Biden for president, more than a month after ending her own presidential bid. "In this moment of crisis, it’s more important than ever that the next president restores Americans’ faith in good, effective government—and I’ve seen Joe Biden help our nation rebuild. Today, I’m proud to endorse," she tweeted, along with a video. The Massachusetts senator had withheld an endorsement ever since ending her campaign in early March, even as the race narrowed to essentially a contest between Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders. But with Sanders dropping out last week, Biden became the...

Former President Barack Obama had multiple long discussions with Sen. Bernie Sanders in an effort to convince him to bow out of the presidential primary, playing a significant role in the Democratic socialist’s decision-making, according to a report. In the weeks after former Vice President Joe Biden established himself as the presumptive Democratic nominee, following his win in South Carolina and sweeping victories on Super Tuesday, Obama had at least four conversations with the presidential hopeful, according to the New York Times. The paper reports that the former president told a close friend that Biden, now the party front-runner, needed to “accelerate the...

Bernie Sanders gave former presidential-primary foe Joe Biden his biggest endorsement yet Monday by joining him in a livestreamed event. “We must come together to defeat the most dangerous president in modern history,” Sanders tweeted. “Bernie, I’m gonna need you,” Biden told the Vermont US senator.

Saying "we need you in the White House," Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden for president on Monday, less than a week after suspending his own campaign for the Democratic Party nomination. The Vermont senator made the announcement during a livestreamed virtual event with Biden, the former vice president who is now his party's presumptive presidential nominee. "We are in a terrible moment, an unprecedented moment and I know we share the understand that we have to go forward, right now and out of this, in an unprecedented way to address the terrible pain that so many of our fellow...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said in a new interview that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign has not reached out to her. The progressive first-term congresswoman was a high-profile surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who dropped out of the race last week. She reiterated in an interview with The New York Times published Monday that she plans to support the party’s nominee. “I’ve always said that I will support the Democratic nominee. But unity is a process, and figuring out what that looks like is part of this whole conversation that I think Bernie and [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz unloaded on his Democratic colleagues on Friday in response to Sen. Dianne Feinstein sending a letter to President Trump declaring that she is “disappointed” in his administration’s plan to block funding to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran. The Democrats’ demand of Trump to help Iran get $5 billion in aid, Cruz noted, comes “at the exact same time” that they are “blocking desperately need relief to small businesses in America.” In late March, a group of Democratic lawmakers — among them Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), and Rashida Tlaib (MI), and...

Should we take this with a grain of salt, considering the source? Or should we just enjoy the schadenfreude of it all as a Friday gift amidst the pandemic gloom? I’ll take Door #2, and go long on popcorn futures, too: A majority of Democrats want to nominate New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for president instead of Joe Biden, according to poll results shared exclusively with The Post.The national poll found 56 percent of Democrats prefer Cuomo, with 44 percent wanting to stick with presumptive nominee Biden — a 12-point margin well outside the 4.8 percent margin of error...

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday suspended his presidential campaign and acknowledged that “Vice President Biden will be the nominee.” But the populist firebrand from Vermont made it crystal clear that his name will remain on the Democratic primary ballot going forward. “I will stay on the ballot in all remaining states and continue to gather delegates,” the senator said while announcing the end of his presidential bid. “We must continue working to assemble as many delegates as possible at the Democratic convention where we will be able to exert significant influence over the party platform and other functions.” Sanders has...

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Wednesday scolded progressives who may “plan to sit this election out or vote for Trump.” She issued her warning after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced the suspension of his presidential bid, begging them to remain active and “fight like hell” to oust President Trump and “end the rise of fascism in this country.” Sanders formally ended his year-long campaign on Wednesday, conceding that the path to the nomination simply is not feasible. He tried to encourage supporters, reminding them of their greater movement and contending that they are “winning the ideological battle.” Omar, one of...