Tuesday on NBC’s “Nightly News,” Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) took aim at the Associated Press for how it handled declaring his opponent Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee on the eve of the last round of Democratic presidential primaries
Sanders told “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt the AP was “hounding” super delegates in an “anonymous way” and that’s how it came to its conclusion.
Partial transcript as follows:
HOLT: How taken aback, how surprised were you at the call last night that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee–
SANDERS: Well, what I was upset is what the AP did. They got on the phone, as I understand it, and they started hounding super delegates to tell them in an anonymous way who they’d be voting for. And the night before the largest primary, biggest primary — in the whole process, they make this announcement. So I was really disappointed in what the — A.P. did. Now–
HOLT: Are you worried it’s going to suppress voter turnout —
SANDERS: Yeah, I do. I was disappointed of what AP did–
HOLT: But Senator, by any reasonable calculation or estimate, Hillary Clinton will win the majority of pledged delegates tonight–
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLT:–on top of the super delegates–
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLT: So you have a decision to make. What is it going to be?
SANDERS: Well, the decision is I’m going to do everything I can to fight for the working class of this country, the low-income people against income and wealth inequality, do everything we can about climate change.
HOLT: If in fact, Hillary Clinton wins the majority of pledged delegates on top of what she’s done with super delegates, does that end your campaign?
SANDERS: Well, what– as I tried to indicate– super delegates are different than pledged delegates. Super delegates have a very important decision to make.
HOLT: Are you going to try to turn them?
SANDERS: Yeah, we are. We’re on the phone right now.
HOLT: You’d be defying history? You’d be defying the will of–
SANDERS: Hey–
HOLT: –the will of the voter, right? (LAUGH) Hillary Clinton–
SANDERS: Well, defying history is what this campaign has been about.
HOLT: A lot of people would say you’re holding the cards in terms of influence on the party and the platform. What do you want?
SANDERS: Well, what I want is something that I have to– it’s not what I want, it’s what working families in this country want.
HOLT: If the president were to come out this weekend and endorse Hillary Clinton, what would– what would be your move?
BERNIE SANDERS: Well, what– as I said– I am going to be meeting with our supporters to figure out the best way forward– so that we have a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent.
(h/t RCP Video)
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