It’s now a full-on war of words between Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Vice Chair Tulsi Gabbard.
Wasserman Schultz appeared on CNN earlier this afternoon and repeatedly criticized her colleague.
“Simply because she’s recommending more debates, you disinvited her from coming here?” Wolf Blitzer asked Wasserman Schultz, referring to Las Vegas, the site of tonight’s Democratic debate.
“That’s simply not true,” Wasserman Schultz responded. “Herein lies the problem: you and I are now talking about Tulsi Gabbard rather than concentrating on our candidates. …
“We’re a big tent party, everybody is entitled to their own opinion, the congresswoman has made her opinion clear on the process. … Unfortunately Congresswoman Gabbard continues to focus on process. She was asked to focus on our candidates and if she could keep the focus on our candidates then that is what we thought was important.”
Wasserman Schultz tried to use Gabbard’s words against her to imply Gabbard agreed she would be a distraction from the debate and voluntarily declined to attend.
“She spent a lot of this morning continuing to focus on process and herself as opposed to talking about our great candidates.”
Blitzer couldn’t figure out why, if the DNC is a “big tent party” as Wasserman Schultz claims, shouldn’t Gabbard be invited to attend the debate.
“Certainly there has been a discussion over process but she was asked to be able to focus on the candidates and she apparently decided that it’s more important to focus on process.”
Blitzer also brought up Gabbard’s allegation that, as a vice chair of the party, she was never consulted on the number of debates that would be held for the candidates.
“Well, unfortunately, spending a lot of time on process. There were many people consulted, including officers, on process,” Wasserman Schultz said, before Blitzer cut her off.
The DNC chair then accused Gabbard of wanting “to distract from the focus that needs to be on our candidates.” Wasserman Schultz took another dig, saying they should focus on the candidates and “she couldn’t do that, apparently.”
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