DNC to ask Sanders, Clinton to denounce Nevada behavior

The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday said chaos on the floor of the Nevada State Democratic Party convention last weekend was “troublling.”

“We will be reaching out to the leadership of both of our campaigns to ask them to stand with the Democratic Party in denouncing and taking steps to prevent the type of behavior on display over the weekend in Las Vegas,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the DNC chairwoman, said in a statement. 

{mosads}“Our democracy is undermined any time threats, intimidation, physical violence or damage to property are present. If there are legitimate concerns, they must be addressed in an orderly, civil and peaceful manner.”

Bernie Sanders fell short to rival Hillary Clinton at the Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses in February. But his fervent base of supporters packed the state convention over the weekend in hopes of winning additional delegates for their candidate.

In the end, Clinton ended up adding to her delegates lead, provoking allegations among some that the state and national party had tipped the scales in favor of the long-time front-runner.

Chaos ensued, with Sen. Barbara Boxer (R-Calif.) getting shouted down and many Democrats refusing to leave the floor of the convention at the request of security. The Nevada Democratic Party’s chairwoman has received death threats on her voice mail from people upset over what happened. 

The NSDP sent a letter to the DNC on Tuesday blaming Sanders’s supporters for the mess, and warning that the same events could unfold at the party’s national convention this summer.

Wasserman Schultz, who has clashed at times with the Sanders campaign, said she’d take steps to ensure that that scene doesn’t play out again at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July.

The Sanders campaign says it had “no role in encouraging the activity” on the floor of the convention and that it does not “condone violence or encourage violence or even threats of violence.”

But Sanders walked way from a question about the convention chaos in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/sanders-dodges-question-about-convention-disturbance-687328835563

The Vermont senator and his supporters have long held that Waserman Schultz and the DNC are in the tank for Clinton. 

They have called the nominating process rigged, pointing to the party leaders that act as super-delegates and have boosted Clinton to what looks like an insurmountable lead in the primary.

Wasserman Schultz defended the primary process in her Tuesday statement.

“The process for nominating a Democratic Presidential candidate is not something taken lightly, it is a four-year endeavor that is closely scrutinized and determined in public forums, just as it has been in past election cycles,” she said. “There is no excuse for what happened in Nevada, and it is incumbent upon all of us in positions of leadership to speak out.”