(CNN) — New Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez is joining calls for an independent investigation into reported contacts between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russians known to US intelligence.

“What we need to be looking at is whether this election was rigged by Donald Trump and his buddy Vladimir Putin,” Perez said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Perez argued that Attorney General Jeff Sessions can’t adequately investigate any possible connections because the Alabama Republican was a close adviser and supporter of Trump during his presidential campaign.

“It’s really unfair to any foxes around the country to say that would be the fox guarding the hen house,” Perez said.

Asked about the issue Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it’s too early to call on Sessions to recuse himself from the investigation.

“I wasn’t saying that he shouldn’t recuse himself or that he should,” Sanders said. “My point is, I don’t think we’re there yet. Let’s work through this process. You guys want to jump to the very end of the line. That’s not how this works. Typically, you go through a congressional oversight review. We’re doing that. Let’s not go to the very end of the extreme. Let’s let this play out the way it should.”

Trump tweeted on Sunday afternoon about the Russia-related news coverage, calling it “fake news” that’s being stirred up for political reasons.

Perez’s comments on “State of the Union” came after Tapper asked him about Trump’s accusation in a Sunday morning tweet that he won the race for DNC chairman Saturday over Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who was backed by Bernie Sanders and the party’s progressive wing, because the process was “rigged.”

Trump tweeted: “The race for DNC Chairman was, of course, totally ‘rigged.’ Bernie’s guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!”

Perez appointed his rival for the top DNC spot, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison as his deputy after winning Saturday and laughed off Trump’s assertion that his 235-vote to 200-vote win was because of a rigged system.

“Our unity as a party is our greatest strength, and it’s his worst nightmare,” Perez said of Trump.</s>Newly elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez wasted no time in opening verbal fire at Pres. Donald Trump on Saturday.

After Trump tweeted that he “couldn’t be happier” that Perez had been elected chairman of the DNC, the former Secretary of Labor told the chief executive via Twitter not to get too comfortable, according to TheHill.com.

“Call me Tom. And don’t get too happy. @keithellison and I, and Democrats united across the country, will be your worst nightmare,” wrote Perez.

Perez was elected on Saturday after a contentious race against Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) for committee chair. After his victory, Perez suspended the committee rules and named Ellison as his co-chair, hoping to send a message of unity to a party struggling to find its identity in the wake of a bruising campaign year.</s>And to think, that was the easy part. Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez was elected as chair of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday, edging out Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison in the first competitive election for the job in decades. The 55-year-old Perez, the first Latino chair of the party, will now inherit the most thankless job in politics—rebuilding a party that is at its lowest point since the 1920s.

The race was often miscast as a proxy fight between supporters of Bernie Sanders and supporters of Hillary Clinton, a framing that was unfair to both Ellison and Perez, dynamic and progressive political operatives running for a job often reserved for staid political figures. In the end, Perez's win was not a rejection of Ellison's vision of the party; in key ways, his campaign was an affirmation of it.

Party chair is a position typically of interest only to political junkies. But with organizers still amped up from the presidential election, the race had the feel and structure of a competitive primary, with a half-dozen candidate forums across the country and an intensive push from rank-and-file voters that recalled previous courting of superdelegates. "I've been lobbied consistently by phone, by email, by Facebook, by Twitter for the last month," said Melvin Poindexter, a DNC member from Massachusetts who was supporting Ellison.

Ellison, for his part, tried to tamp down the barrage of phone calls on his behalf, which one state party chair unfavorably described as "anarchy." But aggressive lobbying proved critical. Kerman Maddox, a DNC member from California, explained that he'd chosen Perez in part because "Tom called me more than any of the other Democratic candidates"—a sentiment echoed by other voting members.

After the results were announced, a dozen Ellison supporters—including the congressman's brother, Eric—chanted "party for the people, not big money" from the back of the Atlanta ballroom, with a few cries of "bullshit!" thrown in. While the formal final vote, sealed on the second ballot, was 235 to 200, in a show of unity, Perez was subsequently elected by acclamation. In his first move as chair, he announced that Ellison had agreed to serve as his deputy chair.

"If you're wearing a 'Keith' t-shirt—or any t-shirt—I am asking you to give everything you've got to support chairman Perez," Ellison told the room. Afterward, they switched campaign pins in a show of solidarity.

In the run up to the vote, some Ellison backers argued that there was no real case for a Perez chairmanship—that he was running as a check on Sanders' influence and little more. But DNC members I spoke with seemed to understand Perez's pitch quite clearly: he was a turnaround artist who had retooled complex bureaucracies toward progressive ends, first at the Maryland Department of Labor, then at the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, and finally as President Barack Obama's Labor Secretary. If progressives had forgotten what they liked about Perez, they needed to look no farther than the conservative Breitbart News, which once heralded Perez "the most radical cabinet secretary since Henry Wallace," the New Dealer who eventually bolted the Democrats to mount a third party challenge in 1948.

The fights that Perez has waged over the course of his career track closely with those Ellison cut his teeth on in Minneapolis—housing discrimination, voter suppression, and living wages. Neo-liberal stooges still have a place in the Democratic party. But the DNC chair isn't one of them.

Beyond their shared political priorities, Perez even offered a similar diagnosis as Ellison. The party had become top-heavy, focusing too much on the presidential race, and had neglected to compete on a county-by-county level. He advocated something resembling a restoration of former chair Howard Dean's 50-state strategy, and proposed to spend more time knocking on doors in off-year elections. There was no talk of compromising with President Donald Trump; Perez dubbed him "the worst president in the history of the United States."

Ellison sought to win the same way he always has, through a mastery of coalition politics. His backers included American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Rep. John Lewis, and Sanders—many of whom found themselves on opposing sides during the president primary. The threat by OJ Simpson counsel and Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz< to leave the party if Ellison won did not appear to have a substantial effect on voters. (Maybe they were waiting to hear from F. Lee Bailey.) He ran not as Sanders 2.0, but as a restoration of an even older form of Democratic progressivism, one evoked by the spruce-green colors on his t-shirts and tote bags—the campaign colors of his political idol, the late Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone.

Just a few hours before the election, there was an indication Ellison might come up short when the committee members voted on a resolution that would reinstate the party's ban on corporate donations. The ban, which was first implemented by president-elect Barack Obama in 2008, had been dropped last year by the previous party chair, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Ellison had supported the reinstatement of the ban and envisioned a party's fundraising model in the mold of Sanders' small-dollar campaign. Perez never committed to reinstating the contribution ban.

The resolution brought on the most contentious 10 minutes of a weekend that, up until then, had been a love-fest. Bob Mulholland of California, the leading critic of the ban, chided critics as naive. He cited corporate opposition to ousted North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory as proof that corporations aren't all evil. Supporters of the ban, some of the new party leaders whom had been recently elected to their posts with the backing of Sanders's supporters, implicitly tied the resolution to the senator's one-time candidacy, warning that the party risked alienating voters who cared about money in politics. Jessica Sell Chambers, a Sanders backer and the newly minted national committeewoman from Wyoming, offered a succinct appraisal: "I belong to the party of the people and the last time I checked corporations aren't people."

Inside the Westin, where Democrats began assembling on Thursday, the notion that the chair candidates were engaged in a rancorous, existential fight seemed far-fetched. Perez, who was hoarse from two days of lobbying as he made a last-minute push Friday night, had taken to calling the event "Unity Saturday." Even the most die-hard Ellison supporters were optimistic that the party would be in good hands win or lose. Each of the leading candidates devoted portions of their stump speech to a call for unity no matter who won.

"I really just want to like put at least four of them together," said Dolly Strazar from Hawaii, a Sanders supporter who ended up backing Perez. Another voting member, Aleita Huguenin of California, predicted that the fight would quickly simmer down. "I've been through too many of them," she said. "People are a little disappointed, they have two dinners, and will be back together."

In reality, the contentious fight over the future of the party never really described the DNC race—but there is such a battle playing out across the country. Already, Sanders supporters, both organically and with the support of the Senator's non-profit Our Revolution, have begun targeting the party's apparatus at state, county, and local levels. They are poised to take over the California Democratic party in May, after winning a majority of delegates to the state convention in January. The Sanders wing is ascendant in Nebraska and Wyoming, and setting its sights on Florida and Michigan. Beyond party positions, re-energized Sanders supporters are talking openly about primary challenges to Democratic officeholders who support Donald Trump's policies.

Less than a year after only 39 of 447 DNC members endorsed Sanders' presidential campaign, his chosen candidate came about 15 votes short of taking over the whole thing. The numbers reflect Sanders' forces growing strength in the party, a gradual upheaval that may only be sped along by Perez's victory. DNC members from Wyoming—where the Vermont senator notched a huge caucus victory but due to party rules emerged with few delegates—who are not on board are feeling the heat. When Bruce Palmer, the party's vice chair, told me he was supporting Tom Perez, he conceded that it may be to his own detriment. After all, he's got an election next month.</s>Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz reacted to Tom Perez defeating Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) to become Democratic National Committee chairman.

Dershowitz called the victory a win “in the war against bigotry.”

“The Ellison defeat is a victory in the war against bigotry, anti-Semitism, the anti-Israel push of the hard left within the Democratic Party,” said Dershowitz, who had previously said he would leave the party if Ellison won.

The law professor added that he wished Perez would not give Ellison “any position in the Democratic party.”</s>WASHINGTON - New Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez, who campaigned on the need for his party to reach out to groups that felt left behind, expressed optimism Sunday that the fractured Democrats were coalescing around a common goal: Opposing President Donald Trump and his agenda.

Despite some members of the party resisting the idea that Democrats were purely in "resistance" mode, Perez told Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he hasn't seen any actions from Trump thus far that his party could get behind.

The president "hasn't proposed anything but chaos and carnage," Perez said.

Asked about a potential infrastructure package — something progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders have supported and an issue on which some Democrats indicated a willingness to work with Trump — Perez said, "We've seen no evidence of anything constructive from this president."

Perez was formerly the U. S. Secretary of Labor under President Barack Obama, and has numerous connections within the Obama and Clinton worlds.

Like he did throughout the race for chair, Perez reiterated Sunday where he felt Democrats fell short in communicating their message. In addition to the lack of investment in state parties, he said he heard from voters that too much of their message was focused on Trump, and that he "heard from rural America that the Democratic party hasn't been there for us recently."

"In Ohio, I went out there, I talked to voters, and what they heard from Donald Trump is, 'I'm going to bring your coal jobs back.' That's a lie," Perez recounted. "But what they heard is that he felt their pain. What they heard from us was that, you know, 'Vote for us because we're not him.' And we have to make sure we're communicating our affirmative message."

The race between Perez and his top challenger, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., seemed to echo divisions within the party exposed in the Democratic party primary. Ellison was backed by Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other more progressive stalwarts of the party, while Perez was endorsed by members of the Clinton campaign and President Obama.

Perez is the first Latino leader of the DNC and was elected by the voting members of the committee on Saturday. After winning on the second round of balloting, he quickly named Ellison the deputy chair of the party.

Perez pointed at those fledgling steps toward rebuilding the Democratic Party in Atlanta while speaking to "Meet The Press."

"We were there together," he said. "We were united. And our unity is our greatest strength. And frankly our unity is Donald Trump's greatest nightmare."

Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, also appearing on "Meet The Press" on Sunday, resisted the idea that his party is becoming a "party of no" or focused too solely on being anti-Trump.

"I'm not sure it's moving that fast in that direction," he said. "Certainly there's a lot of you know, anxiety and anger and protest going on."

But he continued, "Some of them, people like Sen. Schumer, have got to be thinking back to when President Obama was first elected and within a couple of weeks that same kind of anger was being used against him and they'd to beat him… You can't blame anybody for being that upset and so, there's been a lot of problems in the first month of this administration."</s>On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” while discussing the newly elected Democratic National Committee chairman and former Obama Labor secretary Tom Perez, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Perez did not “understand what’s going on in America.”

Lewandowski said “They have now put someone in the chairman of the Democratic party who doesn’t understand what’s going on in America. They would have had an opportunity to pick a candidate that understood what middle America is about and not someone who’s just concerned about the East Coast or West Coast. And instead what we’ve seen is more of the same from the Democratic Party, which caused them to lose this election at the presidential level.”</s>ATLANTA — Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as their new national chairman on Saturday over a liberal Minnesota congressman after a divisive campaign that reflected the depths of the party’s electoral failures as well as the energy from resistance to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Perez, the first Latino to hold the post, edged Rep. Keith Ellison on the second round of voting by Democratic National Committee members gathered in Atlanta.

A nod to his margin of 35 votes out of 435 cast, to say nothing of the lingering friction between old-guard Democratic brokers and outspoken liberal upstarts, Perez tapped Ellison to serve as deputy chair.

“We are all in this together,” Perez said, calling on Democrats to fight “the worst president in the history of the United States.” He added, “I am confident when we lead with our values and we lead with our actions, we succeed.”

Perez had led on the first ballot among six candidates, but fell just short of the required majority.

Earlier Saturday, Perez told DNC members the party was facing a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of relevance.”

“We need a chair who cannot only take the fight to Donald Trump but make sure that we talk about our positive message of inclusion and opportunity and talk to that big tent of the Democratic Party,” Perez said.

Both top candidates had promised aggressive rebuilding efforts for state and local Democratic parties.

The chair campaign was uncharted territory as Democrats face a power deficit not seen in nine decades. Republicans control the White House, Congress and about two-thirds of U.S. statehouses. The GOP is one Senate confirmation fight away from a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

With Democrats in agreement in their opposition to Trump, the race turned on who was able to convince enough DNC members to believe his promises of rebuilding party infrastructure that withered under President Barack Obama despite his personal electoral success.

Ellison told voting members he had signatures from 750,000 rank-and-file Democrats who support his chairmanship bid. He promised to “convert them from demonstration energy to electoral energy.” He pledged to prioritize small donations to finance the party, while working to “organize this whole country.”

Perez said he would “rebuild strong parties” and “organize, organize, organize” so Democratic nominees could win “from the school to the Senate in all the states.”

Perez got into the race at Obama’s urging, but he pushed back on the notion that represented the same “establishment” label that dogged Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Ellison had endorsements from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination, and also from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

For their parts, Ellison and Perez had praised each other and promised unity regardless of the outcome.

The winner succeeds outgoing Chairwoman Donna Brazile, who led the party as interim chief in the fallout from disclosure that internal party communications were stolen by hackers and leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign.

U.S. intelligence officials have blamed Russian agents and said Moscow’s intention was to help Trump win.

Brazile said Saturday the party has worked with cybersecurity experts to address vulnerabilities. She chided Trump for his mockery of DNC cybersecurity and his doubts that Russians are at fault.

“No, Donald Trump, you can’t go to Staples and buy anti-Russian hacking software,” she said, urging Congress to investigate whether Russians hacked the Republican National Committee.

No RNC emails were leaked during the 2016 campaign. Republican officials insist their party communications were not breached.

Brazile suggests that proves Russians wanted to help Trump.</s>ATLANTA — Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as their new national chairman on Saturday over a liberal Minnesota congressman after a divisive campaign that reflected the depths of the party’s electoral failures as well as the energy from resistance to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Perez, the first Latino to hold the post, edged Rep. Keith Ellison on the second round of voting by Democratic National Committee members gathered in Atlanta.

A nod to his margin of 35 votes out of 435 cast, to say nothing of the lingering friction between old-guard Democratic brokers and outspoken liberal upstarts, Perez tapped Ellison to serve as deputy chair.

“We are all in this together,” Perez said, calling on Democrats to fight “the worst president in the history of the United States.” He added, “I am confident when we lead with our values and we lead with our actions, we succeed.”

Perez had led on the first ballot among six candidates, but fell just short of the required majority.

Earlier Saturday, Perez told DNC members the party was facing a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of relevance.”

“We need a chair who cannot only take the fight to Donald Trump but make sure that we talk about our positive message of inclusion and opportunity and talk to that big tent of the Democratic Party,” Perez said.

Both top candidates had promised aggressive rebuilding efforts for state and local Democratic parties.

The chair campaign was uncharted territory as Democrats face a power deficit not seen in nine decades. Republicans control the White House, Congress and about two-thirds of U.S. statehouses. The GOP is one Senate confirmation fight away from a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

With Democrats in agreement in their opposition to Trump, the race turned on who was able to convince enough DNC members to believe his promises of rebuilding party infrastructure that withered under President Barack Obama despite his personal electoral success.

Ellison told voting members he had signatures from 750,000 rank-and-file Democrats who support his chairmanship bid. He promised to “convert them from demonstration energy to electoral energy.” He pledged to prioritize small donations to finance the party, while working to “organize this whole country.”

Perez said he would “rebuild strong parties” and “organize, organize, organize” so Democratic nominees could win “from the school to the Senate in all the states.”

Perez got into the race at Obama’s urging, but he pushed back on the notion that represented the same “establishment” label that dogged Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Ellison had endorsements from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination, and also from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

For their parts, Ellison and Perez had praised each other and promised unity regardless of the outcome.

The winner succeeds outgoing Chairwoman Donna Brazile, who led the party as interim chief in the fallout from disclosure that internal party communications were stolen by hackers and leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign.

U.S. intelligence officials have blamed Russian agents and said Moscow’s intention was to help Trump win.

Brazile said Saturday the party has worked with cybersecurity experts to address vulnerabilities. She chided Trump for his mockery of DNC cybersecurity and his doubts that Russians are at fault.

“No, Donald Trump, you can’t go to Staples and buy anti-Russian hacking software,” she said, urging Congress to investigate whether Russians hacked the Republican National Committee.

No RNC emails were leaked during the 2016 campaign. Republican officials insist their party communications were not breached.

Brazile suggests that proves Russians wanted to help Trump.</s>ATLANTA — Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as their new national chairman on Saturday over a liberal Minnesota congressman after a divisive campaign that reflected the depths of the party’s electoral failures as well as the energy from resistance to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Perez, the first Latino to hold the post, edged Rep. Keith Ellison on the second round of voting by Democratic National Committee members gathered in Atlanta.

A nod to his margin of 35 votes out of 435 cast, to say nothing of the lingering friction between old-guard Democratic brokers and outspoken liberal upstarts, Perez tapped Ellison to serve as deputy chair.

“We are all in this together,” Perez said, calling on Democrats to fight “the worst president in the history of the United States.” He added, “I am confident when we lead with our values and we lead with our actions, we succeed.”

Perez had led on the first ballot among six candidates, but fell just short of the required majority.

Earlier Saturday, Perez told DNC members the party was facing a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of relevance.”

“We need a chair who cannot only take the fight to Donald Trump but make sure that we talk about our positive message of inclusion and opportunity and talk to that big tent of the Democratic Party,” Perez said.

Both top candidates had promised aggressive rebuilding efforts for state and local Democratic parties.

The chair campaign was uncharted territory as Democrats face a power deficit not seen in nine decades. Republicans control the White House, Congress and about two-thirds of U.S. statehouses. The GOP is one Senate confirmation fight away from a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

With Democrats in agreement in their opposition to Trump, the race turned on who was able to convince enough DNC members to believe his promises of rebuilding party infrastructure that withered under President Barack Obama despite his personal electoral success.

Ellison told voting members he had signatures from 750,000 rank-and-file Democrats who support his chairmanship bid. He promised to “convert them from demonstration energy to electoral energy.” He pledged to prioritize small donations to finance the party, while working to “organize this whole country.”

Perez said he would “rebuild strong parties” and “organize, organize, organize” so Democratic nominees could win “from the school to the Senate in all the states.”

Perez got into the race at Obama’s urging, but he pushed back on the notion that represented the same “establishment” label that dogged Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Ellison had endorsements from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination, and also from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

For their parts, Ellison and Perez had praised each other and promised unity regardless of the outcome.

The winner succeeds outgoing Chairwoman Donna Brazile, who led the party as interim chief in the fallout from disclosure that internal party communications were stolen by hackers and leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign.

U.S. intelligence officials have blamed Russian agents and said Moscow’s intention was to help Trump win.

Brazile said Saturday the party has worked with cybersecurity experts to address vulnerabilities. She chided Trump for his mockery of DNC cybersecurity and his doubts that Russians are at fault.

“No, Donald Trump, you can’t go to Staples and buy anti-Russian hacking software,” she said, urging Congress to investigate whether Russians hacked the Republican National Committee.

No RNC emails were leaked during the 2016 campaign. Republican officials insist their party communications were not breached.

Brazile suggests that proves Russians wanted to help Trump.</s>ATLANTA — Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as their new national chairman on Saturday over a liberal Minnesota congressman after a divisive campaign that reflected the depths of the party’s electoral failures as well as the energy from resistance to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Perez, the first Latino to hold the post, edged Rep. Keith Ellison on the second round of voting by Democratic National Committee members gathered in Atlanta.

A nod to his margin of 35 votes out of 435 cast, to say nothing of the lingering friction between old-guard Democratic brokers and outspoken liberal upstarts, Perez tapped Ellison to serve as deputy chair.

“We are all in this together,” Perez said, calling on Democrats to fight “the worst president in the history of the United States.” He added, “I am confident when we lead with our values and we lead with our actions, we succeed.”

Perez had led on the first ballot among six candidates, but fell just short of the required majority.

Earlier Saturday, Perez told DNC members the party was facing a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of relevance.”

“We need a chair who cannot only take the fight to Donald Trump but make sure that we talk about our positive message of inclusion and opportunity and talk to that big tent of the Democratic Party,” Perez said.

Both top candidates had promised aggressive rebuilding efforts for state and local Democratic parties.

The chair campaign was uncharted territory as Democrats face a power deficit not seen in nine decades. Republicans control the White House, Congress and about two-thirds of U.S. statehouses. The GOP is one Senate confirmation fight away from a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

With Democrats in agreement in their opposition to Trump, the race turned on who was able to convince enough DNC members to believe his promises of rebuilding party infrastructure that withered under President Barack Obama despite his personal electoral success.

Ellison told voting members he had signatures from 750,000 rank-and-file Democrats who support his chairmanship bid. He promised to “convert them from demonstration energy to electoral energy.” He pledged to prioritize small donations to finance the party, while working to “organize this whole country.”

Perez said he would “rebuild strong parties” and “organize, organize, organize” so Democratic nominees could win “from the school to the Senate in all the states.”

Perez got into the race at Obama’s urging, but he pushed back on the notion that represented the same “establishment” label that dogged Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Ellison had endorsements from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination, and also from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

For their parts, Ellison and Perez had praised each other and promised unity regardless of the outcome.

The winner succeeds outgoing Chairwoman Donna Brazile, who led the party as interim chief in the fallout from disclosure that internal party communications were stolen by hackers and leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign.

U.S. intelligence officials have blamed Russian agents and said Moscow’s intention was to help Trump win.

Brazile said Saturday the party has worked with cybersecurity experts to address vulnerabilities. She chided Trump for his mockery of DNC cybersecurity and his doubts that Russians are at fault.

“No, Donald Trump, you can’t go to Staples and buy anti-Russian hacking software,” she said, urging Congress to investigate whether Russians hacked the Republican National Committee.

No RNC emails were leaked during the 2016 campaign. Republican officials insist their party communications were not breached.

Brazile suggests that proves Russians wanted to help Trump.
In a second round of voting, Tom Perez is elected Chair of the DNC with 235 votes. Perez names Congressman Keith Ellison Deputy Party Chair.