DNC emails show hostility to Sanders; one calls campaign chief 'damn liar'

PHILADELPHIA — Just days before Hillary Clinton will be crowned the Democratic nominee in Philadelphia, Wikileaks released a trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee — and some of them raise questions about whether party officials were trying to undercut Bernie Sanders' campaign.

Here’s what you need to know.

The release.

On Friday the organization that publishes anonymous leaks and information dumped 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from top aides at the DNC throughout early 2016 and the primaries.

Taking down Bernie.

The DNC is supposed to beat up on Republicans, but it not supposed to take sides for any specific candidate in the primaries. However, the Sanders campaign has long maintained that this was not the case and the campaign was putting a thumb on the scale in Clinton’s favor and he has called for the replacement of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Some emails in the leak don’t look great for the DNC.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

In one email Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall asks if someone can confront a person (who is unnamed in the email) and “ask his belief” in an apparent attempt to reveal if Sanders is an atheist to hurt him with with religious voters in the South.

“It might may 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. This could >>make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps >>would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.”

Marshall did not immediately respond to a request for comment

Another email addressed the chaos during the Nevada state convention, which turned into a donneybrook between Clinton and Sanders backers. Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver went on CNN and called on his supporters to “act in a civil way" but then criticized the Nevada state party. In one of the newly released emails, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz responded to a forwarded transcript by saying: “Damn liar. Particularly scummy that he barely acknowledges the violent and threatening behavior that occurred.”

Trump uses emails to his advantage.  

Donald Trump — who has been making a play for Sanders’ supporters — called the DNC emails about Sanders “really vicious.”

Twitter censorship?

Wikileaks accused the social media site of censoring some of its links on Saturday, but Twitter denied the accusation.

“These links haven't been and are not currently blocked. Anyone saying otherwise is uninformed," spokesman Nu Wexler told USA TODAY.

USA TODAY was not able to independently verify authenticity of the emails and the DNC did not respond to request for comment.