It’s open war between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
The battle in Nevada that began on Saturday at the state’s Democratic Convention entered a new phase on Tuesday with a war of press releases, phone calls, and tweets from a variety of different people and groups on the left. Most shocking among them was a statement from Sanders himself revealing that gunshots were fired into his Nevada campaign offices.
The infighting in the Democratic party is far from over as Republicans coalesce behind their presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
On Tuesday morning, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid—a Nevada Democrat—spoke with Sanders for 10 minutes via phone to recap what happened in his state. “He and I had a very long conversation,” Reid said of the call. “He said that he condemns that. I’m confident he does. I’m confident he’ll be saying something about it soon,…I’m hopeful and very confident that Sen. Sanders will do the right thing.”
Following his call with Reid, Sanders released a statement regarding what happened in Nevada. However, the statement was probably not what Harry Reid was hoping for—as it revealed the gunshots and more about the infighting in Nevada, including a break-in months ago at his campaign staff’s living quarters.
“Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization,” Sanders said. “Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense.”
Sanders went on to add, “when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.”
As the statement progressed Sanders began to lay out his argument against what happened in Nevada.
“The chair of the convention announced that the convention rules passed on voice vote, when the vote was a clear no-vote. At the very least, the Chair should have allowed for a headcount.
“The chair allowed its Credentials Committee to en mass rule that 64 delegates were ineligible without offering an opportunity for 58 of them to be heard. That decision enabled the Clinton campaign to end up with a 30-vote majority.”
The chair refused to acknowledge any motions made from the floor or allow votes on them.
These claims were followed up by Senator Sanders with this bombshell, in which he said the Democratic Party “has a choice: It can open its doors and welcome into the party” his backers or “maintain its status quo.”
“At (the Nevada) convention, the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place,” Sanders said, adding that there have been “zero reports” of violence during his rallies across the country.
Read Sanders full statement here.
When asked to respond Tuesday to Senator Sanders’ claims, CNN reports that “Reid was angry, telling CNN it was a ‘silly statement’ that ‘someone else prepared for him. Bernie should say something — not have some silly statement,’ Reid said. ‘Bernie is better than that. … I’m surprised by his statement. I thought he was going to do something different.’” Reid was hardly the only Democrat upset with Sanders’ comments. The Nevada Democratic Party responded Tuesday with a statement of their own as well.