Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper for an interview on “State of the Union,” during which Sanders voiced his opinion regarding the current state of the Democratic National Committee.
In an interview set to air Sunday morning, Sanders told Tapper if he were elected president, he would most definitely terminate DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
Wasserman-Schultz, who is currently up for re-election in Florida’s 23rd congressional district, received no words of support from Sanders. In fact, the Senator from Vermont openly stated that he supports her opponent, Tim Canova.
“Well, clearly I favor her opponent. His [Tim Canova] views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman-Schultz.”
Wasserman-Schultz has remained neutral throughout the 2016 election and has not hinted as to whether she supports Sanders or Clinton for president.
Sanders’ supporters haven’t been shy in regards to openly sharing their distaste for Wasserman-Schultz, as many Sanders’ supporters believe she and other high-ranking Democrats are biased in their support of Hillary Clinton.
Tensions are currently running high between Democratic party leaders and Sanders after chaos broke out during a convention in Nevada just last weekend. Sanders’ supporters openly rejected party rules they believe continually work in Hillary Clinton’s favor. Wasserman-Schultz demanded Sanders address the behavior of his supporters, but instead, he demonstrated that he agreed with the cause for their disruptive actions, saying he felt party leaders unfairly favor Clinton.
“Party Leaders in Nevada claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence.”
He went on to accuse the Democrat leadership of using its power “to prevent a fair and transparent” convention.
“If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned.”
Wasserman-Schultz told CNN on Wednesday that Sanders was justifying the violence on behalf of his supporters, saying:
“With all due respect, when there is a ‘but’ in between a condemnation of violence, generally and after the word ‘but’ you go on to seemingly justify the reason that the violence and intimidation has occurred, then that falls short of making sure that going forward that this kind of conduct doesn’t occur.”
As the party grows eager to mobilize behind its candidate and to begin focusing its attention toward defeating Donald Trump in the general election, it’s likely that Sanders will face even more pressure from party officials such as Wasserman-Schultz. But Sanders has said he had no intention of dropping out of the race and intends to fight it out until the very end.
Watch the clip from State of the Union, set to air this Sunday:
Feature Image by Donkey Hotey via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons license.
