White House: Political disputes ‘never’ justify violence

The White House on Tuesday denounced an outbreak of violence at Nevada’s Democratic convention that many in the party blamed on supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

{mosads}“The president on a number of occasions has spoken out against violence and has certainly said a political dispute like this can never be used to justify violence or a threat of violence,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

The Las Vegas convention had to be shut down on Saturday after some Sanders supporters angry over delegate allocation resorted to throwing chairs.

Sanders supporters were frustrated that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who won the state’s caucuses in February, was able to pick up additional delegates, despite the fact that they packed the convention.

The state party’s chairwoman, Roberta Lange, also reported death threats from backers of the Vermont senator.

Earnest said disputes like the one in Nevada should be resolved peacefully and that the “expectation the president has is that there will be a strong commitment to that principle of nonviolence.”

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Tuesday that she reached out to the Clinton and Sanders campaign, asking them to denounce the chaos in Nevada.