Bernie Sanders Campaign Disciplined after a Staffer Accessed Hilary Clinton’s Data

Bernie Sanders campaign has been punished by the Democratic National Committee after it learned that a top staffer accessed Hillary Clinton's private voter data. The Washington Post was the first to report on this story.

The Vermont senator's campaign will no longer have access to its voter database, which includes information on voters across the country. Not being able to access the database, which is often used to help create campaign strategies, has been described as a major setback.

Per the Post:

"Having his campaign cut off from the national party's voter data is a strategic setback for Sanders - and could be a devastating blow if it lasts. The episode also raises questions about the DNC's ability to provide strategic resources to campaigns and state parties."

CNN wrote: 

"The Sanders campaign will remain suspended until it provides the DNC with a full explanation of the episode and provides proof that any accessed data has been discarded. 

With the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries now less than two months away, this suspension will likely be an obstacle for the Sanders campaign."

Campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, confirmed that one of their top staffers, Josh Uretsky, who has since been fired, had asked three staffers to access Clinton's confidential data. A total of four staffers looked at the data. Uretsky, who has taken responsibility for the incident, stated that he was only interested in seeing the extent of the breach in order to understand how Sanders' campaign could have been compromised.

He told CNN on Friday, "We investigated it for a short period of time to see the scope of the Sanders campaign's exposure and then the breach was shut down presumably by the vendor. We did not gain any material benefit."

Weaver, however, placed the blame on the software technology company, NGP VAN that was responsible for the glitch, which made it possible for the staffer to see the information.

"Sadly, the DNC is relying on an incompetent vendor who on more than one occasion has dropped the firewall between the various Democratic candidates' data," he said.

The DNC uses firewalls to prevent candidates from assessing each other's data. They will be investigating the breach.

"The DNC places a high priority on maintaining the security of our system and protecting the data on it," spokesman Luis Miranda said in a statement. "We are working with our campaigns and the vendor to have full clarity on the extent of the breach, ensure that this isolated incident does not happen again, and to enable our campaigns to continue engaging voters on the issues that matter most to them and their families."

Sanders' campaign will be able to assess their database if they can prove that they have destroyed all of the information gathered from Clinton's database.