Following the release of excerpts from former interim chairperson of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile’s book, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has said she agrees that the DNC system was “rigged” to help Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election primaries.
In Sen. Warren’s interview with CNN on Thursday, anchor Jake Tapper brought up the claims made in Brazile’s book, saying, “We learned today from the former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile that the Clinton campaign, in her view, did rig the presidential nominating process by entering into an agreement to control day-to-day operations at the DNC.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper: Do you agree with the notion that the DNC was rigged in Hillary Clinton’s favor?
Elizabeth Warren: Yes pic.twitter.com/AgUiVAmdwX
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 2, 2017
Warren responded, “This is a real problem, but what we’ve got to do as Democrats now is we’ve got to hold this party accountable.”
When Tapper asked Warren whether she agreed with Brazile’s accusations that the DNC was “rigged” the Massachusets senator answered, “yes.”
Warren’s response follows Politico’s release of excerpts from Brazile’s book earlier this week, in which the former interim chairperson of the DNC writes that she discovered an agreement between the Clinton campaign and the DNC in which Clinton agreed to raise money for the DNC, and in exchange her campaign would, “control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised.” The agreement was, according to Brazile, in place far before Clinton became the official Democratic nominee, raising questions about whether it created a disadvantage for Sen. Sanders in the 2016 primaries.
Sen. Warren is seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, and added in her interview with CNN that she had spoken with Tom Perez, the DNC’s new chairperson about making both the liberal and centrist members of the Democratic party feel comfortable.
“This is a test for Tom Perez,” Warren told CNN. “Either he’s going to succeed by bringing Bernie Sanders and Bernie Sanders representatives into this process, or he’s going to fail. And I very much hope he succeeds.”