Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Bernie Sanders’ Nevada response ‘added more fuel to the fire’

The head of the Democratic National Committee is reprimanding Sen. Bernard Sanders’ response to reports of threatening and disruptive behavior from his supporters at a party convention in Las Vegas over the weekend, saying Mr. Sanders’ response added more “fuel to the fire.”

“Unfortunately, the senator’s response was anything but acceptable,” DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said on CNN Tuesday evening. “It certainly did not condemn his supporters for acting violently or engaging in intimidation tactics, and instead added more fuel to the fire.”

After discussing the matter with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday, Mr. Sanders issued a statement that condemned violence while defending his supporters and blasting party officials for preventing a fair and transparent process over the weekend.

“With all due respect, when there is a ’but’ in between condemnation of violence generally and after the word ’but’ you go on to seemingly justify the reason that the violence and intimidation has occurred, then that falls short of making sure that going forward, this kind of conduct doesn’t occur,” Mrs. Wasserman Schultz said Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day.”

Jeff Weaver, Mr. Sanders’ campaign manager, said later on the program Wednesday that Mrs. Wasserman Schultz has a long history of “throwing shade” at the Sanders campaign.

“We [can] have a long conversation just about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and how she’s been throwing shade on the Sanders campaign since the very beginning,” Mr. Weaver said.

“Whether it was the debate schedule, that were very few and far between and scheduled on weekends when no one was going to be watching, whether it was when they shut off the Sanders access to its own data and we had to sue them in federal court to get it back, or whether it was these joint fundraising agreements with the Hillary Clinton campaign, which are taking money away from state parties and sending it to the DNC,” he said.

“I got to say — it’s not the DNC,” Mr. Weaver said. “By and large, people at the DNC have been very good to us. Debbie Wasserman Schultz really is the exception.”