Former 2020 Democratic candidate Marianne Williamson questioned the sequence of events that followed the reporting failure for the Democratic Iowa caucuses.
On Monday night, Iowa Democrats revealed that a reporting failure in an app used to manage the caucuses would delay the results from the first-in-the-nation vote. As of Tuesday morning, no results had been disclosed, but that didn’t stop Pete Buttigieg from giving a victory speech while telling supporters that his campaign “shocked the nation.”
Williamson, 67, floated a conspiracy after the ordeal, writing, “America, something went wrong here tonight and it wasn’t just an app. If an app goes down, there are such things as telephones. Then a moderate candidate came out and made this weird victory speech, while [mainstream media] started talking about what a good night this was for Mike Bloomberg.”
America, something went wrong here tonight and it wasn’t just an app. If an app goes down, there are such things as telephones. Then a moderate candidate came out and made this weird victory speech, while MSM started talking about what a good night this was for Mike Bloomberg. ?
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) February 4, 2020
While her accusations about the app failure were more direct, several other Democrats also questioned the circumstances of the botched reporting. Several supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders told the Washington Examiner that they felt the process was biased against the Vermont senator. Many referenced allegations from 2016 that the Democratic National Committee had worked to harm Sanders’s campaign when he took on Hillary Clinton.
Buttigieg, 38, faced his own scandal after delivering his victory speech. Federal Election Commission reports revealed that his campaign had paid the firm responsible for the botched reporting app more than $40,0000 for “software rights and subscriptions.”
As Williamson noted, the chaos in Iowa prompted some on cable news to claim that Michael Bloomberg was the winner, even though he did not participate in the caucuses. Bloomberg, 78, entered the race late and decided to focus on Super Tuesday rather than the early states. MSNBC’s Joy Reid said, “I think tonight was a great night for Mike Bloomberg. It was a great night for somebody who can argue competency at being able to run a big organization.”
It isn’t clear when results from the caucuses will be posted. Iowa Democrats have been ripped by many for the mishap, including President Trump, who called it an “unmitigated disaster.”
Williamson dropped out of the presidential primary after in January after failing to qualify for several debates.
