Jared H. Beck - What Happened to Bernie Sanders

Copyright 2018 by Jared H. Beck, Esq.

Foreword Copyright 2017 by David Talbot

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-5107-3723-5

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5107-3669-6

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3670-2

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather Henry Lessickwho proudly defended his country in World War II and bore testimony to his grandchildren about the horrible suffering endured by the Japanese people on the Night of the Black Snow.

Table of Contents

Foreword

By David Talbot

T HE WORLD IS BURNING, AND YET the firelight illuminates the way out. The times are dire, even catastrophic. Nonetheless we can sense a grand awakening, a growing realization all around the globe that people have the power, to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools in the prophetic words of Patti Smith.

But in order to rouse ourselves from the nightmares that hold us in their grip, we need to know more about the forces that bedevil us, the structures of power that profit from humanitys exploitation and from that of the earth. Thats the impetus behind Hot Books, a series that seeks to expose the dark operations of power and to light the way forward.

Skyhorse publisher Tony Lyons and I started Hot Books in 2015 because we believe that books can make a difference. Since then the Hot Books series has shined a light on the cruel reign of racism and police violence in Baltimore (D. Watkins The Beast Side ); the poisoning of U.S. soldiers by their own environmentally reckless commanding officers (Joseph Hickmans The Burn Pits ); the urgent need to hold U.S. officials accountable for their criminal actions during the war on terror (Rachel Gordons American Nuremberg ); the covert manipulation of the media by intelligence agencies (Nicholas Schous Spooked ); the rise of a rape culture on campus (Kirby Dick and Amy Zierings The Hunting Ground ); the insidious demonizing of Muslims in the media and Washington (Arsalan Iftikhars Scapegoats ); the crackdown on whistleblowers who know the governments dirty secrets (Mark Hertsgaards Bravehearts ); the disastrous policies of the liberal elite that led to the triumph of Trump (Chris Hedges Unspeakable ); the American wastelands that gave rise to this dark reign (Alexander Zaitchiks The Gilded Rage ); the energy titans and their political servants who are threatening human survival (Dick Russells Horsemen of the Apocalypse ); the utilization of authoritarian tactics by Donald Trump that threaten to erode American democracy (Brian Klaass The Despots Apprentice ); the capture, torture, and detention of the first high-value target captured by the CIA after 9/11 (Joseph Hickman and John Kiriakous The Convenient Terrorist ); and the deportation of American veterans (J Malcolm Garcias Without a Country ). And the series continues, going where few publishers dare.

Hot Books are more condensed than standard-length books. Theyre packed with provocative information and points of view that mainstream publishers usually shy from. Hot Books are meant not just to stir readers thinking, but to stir trouble.

Hot Books authors follow the blazing path of such legendary muckrakers and troublemakers as Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jessica Mitford, I.F. Stone and Seymour Hersh. The magazines and newspapers that once provided a forum for this deep and dangerous journalism have shrunk in number and available resources. Hot Books aims to fill this crucial gap.

American journalism has become increasingly digitized and commodified. If the news isnt fake, its usually shallow. But theres a growing hunger for information that is both credible and undiluted by corporate filters.

A publishing series with this intensity cannot keep burning in a vacuum. Hot Books needs a culture of equally passionate readers. Please spread the word about these titlesencourage your bookstores to carry them, post comments about them in online stores and forums, persuade your book clubs, schools, political groups and community organizations to read them and invite the authors to speak.

Its time to go beyond packaged news and propaganda. Its time for Hot Books journalism without borders.

Preface

T HIS IS THE STORY OF WHY Bernie Sanders lost the 2016 Democratic primaries. It is also the story of a class action lawsuit brought by donors to Sanderss campaign, who sued the Democratic National Committeethe DNCand its former chairperson, Congresswoman Deborah Wasserman Schultz, for rigging the primary process in favor of Hillary Clinton. I am the attorney for the plaintiffs in this case, which is currently on appeal with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Federal Appeals after being dismissed by the district court.

Because the case was dismissed on preliminary grounds and well before proceeding to the meritsand because appellate courts rarely reverse casesit is unlikely that my clients claims will ever be tried before a jury. However, this reality does not mean the evidencemuch of which is already a matter of public recordcannot be assembled, described, and set before the public in a cohesive manner. This, after all, is one of the main purposes of the legal trialto arrive at the truth, through rigorous assessment of the evidence. The issues presented by the rigging of the 2016 primaries surely deserve, if not demand, a public hearing, and not all public hearings happen in a courtroom.

So, I have set upon this book with that goal in mind, recognizing, of course, that there are some inherent limitations. For example, only evidence that has been made public record can be cited, as our case was dismissed before the discovery process even got off the ground. And of course, I cannot present live witness testimony, which is the heart of any trial. In addition, the defendants will not have an opportunity to respond or present their own evidence. That said, I have tried to structure this book as I might a courtroom presentation, starting with an Opening Statement that charts the history of the lawsuit. Acts I and II present the evidence. This evidence showsin my mind, irrefutably, but I will let the reader be the judgethat Bernie Sanders was destined to lose the race for the 2016 Democratic Party nomination even before he entered the race, because the DNC and its allies rigged the process for another candidate. These chapters move from close analysis of internal DNC documentspublished by WikiLeaks and othersdemonstrating how the very organization that was obligated, by its own Charter, with running the elections in a fair and evenhanded manner, did everything it could to ensure that Hillary Clinton would be the nominee. I examine the financial ties between Clintons campaign and the DNC that rendered the latter nothing more than an arm of the former. I also pay close attention to the media landscape and how Sanderss candidacy was deliberately undermined by false narratives created in the mainstream corporate media by Clinton loyalists, as well as the superdelegate system, which has evolved over time to bar genuine progressive candidates, another McGovern such as Sanders, from ever attaining the nomination.