Top Democrats had a secret plan to destroy Bernie Sanders' bid for the party's presidential nomination, newly-leaked emails suggest.
The Hill reports the private notes, released by WikiLeaks, show Democratic National Committee [DNC] press secretary Mark Paustenbach telling communications director Luis Miranda about planting a story in the press that Sanders's "campaign was a mess."
"Specifically, [that DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz] had to call Bernie directly in order to get the campaign to do things because they'd either ignored or forgotten to something critical," Paustenbach wrote in one leaked email.
The emails seem to back Sanders' claim that the DNC and Wasserman Schultz had the long knives out for the Vermont senator's run and favored Hillary Clinton.
In another email, The Hill says, Brad Marshall, the committee's chief financial officer appears to question the religion of a man who could be Sanders.
"It might make no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist," Marshall writes.
"This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist."
The contents of the emails could cause a stir at next week's Democrat National Convention in Philadelphia.