Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz pushed back against critiques of her tenure as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, insisting she did not rig the primary contest against Sen. Bernie Sanders and argued she could have if she wanted.
“I will be frank with you — if I was trying to rig the outcome of the primary, trust me, I could have,” Wasserman Schultz told VICE News’ Shawna Thomas. “There are so many things that we — not I — we could have done to enhance the campaign of one candidate over another.”
She also disputed Sanders’ assertions she was tilting the scale in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by only scheduling a handful of debates during the primary season.
“It was mind-boggling to me that he was complaining about the number of debates,” Wasserman Schultz said. “Because, things were going just fine [for him]. I think the Sanders campaign began to aggressively find a scapegoat to turn the attention away from mistakes that they made. And they did so successfully. But that’s OK.”
Wasserman Schultz stepped down as party leader during the Democratic National Convention, where she was booed by angry Sanders supporters. She was replaced by Donna Brazile, who is serving on an interim basis, until March, when an election for a new party chairman will take place.
