The Bernie Sanders campaign is still hoping for a bipartisan debate with Donald Trump before the June 7 California primary.
Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver told MSNBC that “back-channel conversations” are underway between the two campaigns.
“I think it would benefit voters from across the country, and I have to believe it would be one of the most-watched debates in presidential politics,” Jeff Weaver said Thursday on MSNBC.
He added, “Let’s see if he has the courage to go one-on-one with Bernie Sanders.”
The Sanders campaign is hoping to increase pressure on Trump to follow through on his Wednesday night comment to Jimmy Kimmel that he wants to debate Sanders. On Thursday morning, the Sanders campaign immediately responded to Trump tweeting, “Game on. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7th primary.”
The Trump campaign has said that the presumptive Republican nominee is “happy” to debate Sanders “at any point,” although there have also been suggestions that he was only joking on Kimmel’s show.
On Thursday, the Associated Press announced that Trump had reached the necessary 1,237 delegates to secure the Republican nomination before the summer GOP convention. In contrast, Sanders is hundreds of delegates behind Hillary Clinton in the fight for the Democratic nomination, and it is mathematically impossible for him to win the Democratic nomination through the primary process.
