Van Jones slams Debbie Wasserman Schultz over convention chaos: ‘She made it worse’

This Tuesday, CNN political analyst Van Jones ripped Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz for blaming Bernie Sanders supporters for the chaos at the Nevada Democratic party convention last week.

Jones, who once served President Obama as a special adviser, called on Schultz to unite the party, rather than make the situation worse by blaming a group of Democratic voters who already believe they’e been disenfranchised by the establishment.

“If you’re gonna come out, you’re gonna talk about violence, and you’re the DNC chair, you’ve gotta be fair about it. I think she made it worse,” Jones said. “We need to bring these people together — that did not happen.”

Following the Nevada Democratic Convention fiasco which saw Sanders supporters furious over the sudden rules change, illegal motions, and voter suppression midway through the convention, Schultz immediately pointed the finger at the Sanders campaign for the unsubstantiated violence that ensued.

“I was comfortable that one conversation was enough,” Wasserman Schultz said during the interview with CNN. “Unfortunately, the senator’s response was anything but acceptable. It certainly did not condemn the supporters for the violence and added more fuel to the fire.”

Jones fired back at the comments, calling Schultz’s comments “unwise” given the situation and reminded viewers that the only violence that occurred between the two sides was when a Hillary Clinton supporter, Wendell Pierce, was arrested for assaulting a Sanders supporter in LA.

“I don’t think that that was wise for her to do that. First of all, Bernie did say in his statement that he was against the violence,” he argued. “Also, if you want to talk about violence, only one person’s been arrested; it was a Hillary Clinton supporter, Wendell Pierce, arrested for assaulting a Sanders supporter.”

Sanders also issued a statement condemning the violence that allegedly occurred on the convention floor. However he refrained from accepting any blame for his supporters actions that day and then asked where was the outrage when his Nevada campaign office was shot up and a staffer’s apartment complex was broken into.

“That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence,” Sanders wrote. “Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But, 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.”

MSNBC commentator Mika Brzezinski called for Schultz to step down as head of the DNC, stating that her response was “poorly handled from the start.”

“If the party I was a member of treated me like this, rigged the debate process…,” Brzezinski said. “I’d say go straight to hell, I’m running as an independent.”

Watch a full account of the 2016 Nevada Democratic Convention:

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