Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when asked about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) agreeing the 2016 Democratic primary was rigged in favor of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, former Obama administration communications director Jen Psaki said Warren was politically motivated because she wanted Bernie Sanders supporters for a 2020 presidential run.
Partial transcript as follows:
TAPPER: Now, Jen, what Congressman Dent — might be the prevailing view of the scandal from wise men and women in Washington, D.C., who look at the situation at the DNC.
PSAKI: A diminishing breed.
TAPPER: But — but I have to say, it’s probably not a very compelling argument to progressive grassroots Democrats, who — especially Bernie supporters, who feel like, wow, our guy got screwed.
PSAKI: Sure. Look, I think there’s well-documented bias on a staff level. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was fired as a result. We’ve know that for over a year.
The reality here, though, is that when you have Senator Elizabeth Warren go out and say this is rigged, we should all remember she’s going to run for president in 2020. She wants Bernie Sanders supporters. There’s political motivation there too.
My priority as a Democrat is that we need to talk about what we’re going to do moving forward. Right now, no one’s focusing on the division in the party because they’re focused on the circus on the other side, Donald Trump and the divisions in the Republican Party.
On the Democratic side, we’re doing some things that are problematic. We raised half as much money as the RNC. The DNC did. Tom Perez should get credit for taking steps to put more transparency in place.
TAPPER: Tom Perez.
PSAKI: I’m sorry?
TAPPER: Tom Perez.
PSAKI: Tom Perez, exactly…
TAPPER: Yes.
PSAKI: … should get credit for that.
However, we also can’t kill ourselves through litmus tests by saying you can’t be a part of the party unless you do X, Y and Z. That is not a winning strategy.
So, I will say, yes, there’s bias. We know about it. But what we need to address is some of these existing issues that are hurting our party right now.
(h/t Grabien)
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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