CNN Cuts Ties With Brazile After Allegations of Leaked Questions

CNN is severing ties with Donna Brazile as hacked emails suggest she passed along questions to Hillary Clinton before a debate and town hall during the Democratic primaries. Brazile's contract as a CNN contributor had been suspended since the summer anyway, when she began serving as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee. But now the network has accepted her resignation, reports USA Today. "We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor," says network spokeswoman Lauren Pratapas. Those interactions came while Brazile was vice chair of the DNC, a group that was supposed to remain neutral in the primaries.

Brazile has previously denied passing along questions, but hacked emails from Clinton adviser John Podesta's account suggest otherwise, reports the Hill. In one—dated March 5, the day before a debate with Bernie Sanders—Brazile allegedly wrote to Podesta: “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash. Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint." In another email to the campaign, the day before a March 13 town hall, Brazile allegedly passed along a question about the death penalty, a topic that "worries me about HRC." The latter email had been released earlier this month by WikiLeaks, and Politico has it in full here. (More Donna Brazile stories.)