Bernie Sanders Delegates Stage Dramatic Walkout, Promising to Leave Democratic Party

The group held a sit-in at a tent for journalists, some with tape over their mouths

Dozens of Bernie Sanders delegates walked out of the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night following Hillary Clinton's nomination for president, and many promised to leave the political party in protest.

Vincent Venditti, a Georgia delegate pledged to Sanders, said outside Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center that he considers himself a political independent effective immediately.[[388324462,C]]

Their protest and exodus is in line with what hundreds of protesters had been saying outside the convention's security perimeter. Many said Hillary Clinton's nomination as the Democratic candidate for president would prompt them to quit the party.

"They know where to find me," Venditti said, noting that he would consider returning to the party if Clinton's candidacy was abandoned.

The group held a sit-in at a tent for journalists, some with tape over their mouths. It dispersed after about an hour, but the protesters' point was made.

The Democratic Party and their convention have been roiled by an email controversy. Hacked emails published by Wikileaks appeared to show some in the Democratic National Committee favoring Hillary Clinton, a charge leveled throughout the presidential primaries but which party leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz had denied.

But the email scandal led to her ouster on Monday — she had been supposed to gavel in the convention on Monday, but did not do so. Even Sanders was booed at an event Monday, when he told supporters it was in the country's best interest to elect Clinton president.

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