DNC Chair Tom Perez, Bartiromo spar over Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders election rigging
Donna Brazile’s bombshell revelations over election rigging during last year’s Democratic primary sparked a heated debate between FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo and Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez during an interview on “Mornings with Maria” on Wednesday.
Bartiromo scolded the former labor secretary for not speaking with Bernie Sanders since Brazile, the former interim chairwoman of the DNC, made the allegations.
Perez tried to shift the focus from the claims to the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.
“Maria, I have been out on the stump campaigning for people. I have been focused on the future, I was helping Democrats win in Virginia,” he said.
“Don’t you think you owe him a phone call? Does somebody owe Bernie Sanders a phone call since now we know what took place and everything was rigged and you were behind Hillary Clinton when in fact he could have actually fairly got on the nomination and didn’t?” charged Bartiromo.
Perez quickly responded, “You know Maria, we are all focused on winning elections. We are focused on the future here.”
“Right. So is Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately, Bernie Sanders’ hopes were dashed because it was rigged. So you haven’t spoken to Bernie Sanders—okay,” responded Bartiromo.
Perez pushed back and questioned Bartiromo on whether the interview was a “lecture or a Q&A.”
Bartiromo reassured Perez that it was a back and forth, but pressed him on whether Sanders would have gotten the nomination if former Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC were neutral.
Perez explained that the states run the primaries and pointed out how Clinton won the Democratic primary by four million votes and the popular vote in the general election by three million votes.
Bartiromo replied, “Look you were a fantastic labor secretary… you and I used to talk all the time about the jobs story.”
But Perez quickly interrupted, “Yeah and you didn’t interrupt me as much then as you do now.”
The debate became even more fiery after Bartiromo explained how she assumed Perez would become DNC chairman and “try and clean it up.”
“The DNC was hacked, all your emails were out there. Instead of actually getting the might and the power of the CIA, the FBI to look at that computer to figure out what the heck just happened … What happened -- the DNC would not give the computers over to the FBI. Instead you hired a private company to look at the files and then report back to the DNC. What was in that laptop that you didn’t want anybody to see?” asked Bartiromo.
“Maria you are in a fictional wonderland right now,” retorted Perez.
“That’s not fiction, Tom, this is all facts,” countered Bartiromo. “Look, all we want to know is if the election is going to continue to be rigged. You had great elections last night. You had victories. People want to know can they trust the DNC anymore? We know what happened with Hillary and Bernie. You haven’t even spoken to Bernie Sanders since all of that went against him and the entire party rigged the election against him.”
Perez asserted voters have put the Brazile allegations behind, citing the gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey, and are now embracing the Democratic Party’s vision.