Bernie Sanders' Wife Weighs In on His Feud with Elizabeth Warren: 'People Sometimes Misremember Things'
Jane O’Meara Sanders, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, has a clear message about the simmering dispute between her husband and Elizabeth Warren: It’s over.
O’Meara Sanders defended her husband’s integrity during a Wednesday interview, but she declined to attack Warren — or inflame the feud in any way — a day after the Massachusetts senator reiterated during a nationally televised debate that Sanders, a Vermont senator, told her privately that a woman couldn’t defeat President Donald Trump.
“I think that this discussion is over,” O’Meara Sanders told The Associated Press.
The leading liberal presidential contenders have been trying to de-escalate the feud almost since Warren inexplicably made the explosive allegation on the eve of this week’s debate, claiming that Sanders questioned the viability of a female presidential candidate during a private conversation in 2018.
The subsequent attempts to tamp down the conflict, from the candidates on the debate stage Tuesday night and from their chief surrogates on Wednesday, reflect the dangerous stakes surrounding a fight that threatens to tear apart the Democratic Party’s progressive base less than three weeks before presidential primary voting begins.
O’Meara Sanders said their campaign has no interest in promoting divisions “like Trump does by gender, race or ethnicity.”
“We remain committed to continuing a progressive movement made up of women and men, black and white, gay [and] straight,” she said.
“The message is unity.”
At the same time, she described her husband as “a person that everybody can trust” and pushed back against Warren’s accusation.
“Maybe people sometimes misremember things that happened,” she said.
“But I know without a doubt that it is not anything Bernie would ever say. It is inconceivable because it’s not what he believes. And there’s proof of that going back many, many years.”
“I’m not attacking Elizabeth Warren in any way, shape or form on this,” O’Meara Sanders continued.
“My message is Bernie is trying to bring people together.”
O’Meara Sanders’ comments came the same day that the Vermont senator’s campaign put CNN on blast for exhibiting what it said was pro-Warren bias during the debate.
CNN moderator Abby Phillip seemed to treat the allegation as fact when she brought up the issue.
“Senator Sanders, CNN reported yesterday, and Senator Warren confirmed in a statement, that in 2018, you told her that you did not believe that a woman could win the election,” she said. “Why did you say that?”
According to Sanders campaign spokesman Jeff Weaver, it was “cringe-worthy” behavior on the part of CNN.
“Oh no, no, no, no. Clearly not,” Weaver told the Washington Examiner when asked if Sanders was treated fairly by CNN in the exchange.
“Basically, what we would say in a courtroom, assumed facts, not evidence. And so yes, we’ve talked to some folks at CNN, who said it was a ‘cringe-worthy’ moment as well,” he added.
Nina Turner, a former Democratic Ohio state senator who now serves as Sanders’ campaign co-chairwoman, expressed similar sentiments, calling CNN’s treatment of Sanders “patently unfair.”
“No, it was not fair the way they asked the question. It was not fair. Everybody heard the way they asked that question,” she told the Examiner, referring to it as a “glaring example” of how the media treats the Sanders campaign poorly.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
