Sanders Campaign Manager Questions Hillary’s ‘Unusual’ Fundraising

Here’s the transcript, courtesy of MSNBC:

ERICA HILL, MSNBC HOST: Joining us now, Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver. Nice to have you with us here in Brooklyn today.

JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS’ CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Great to be here, very beautiful day.

HILL: It is a beautiful day. It’s a great day to be outside.

So, we heard a little bit of what George Clooney had to say there, basically agreeing with your candidate. This is an obscene amount of money, it’s insane, but he was saying really we have to look at this in terms of the – the down ballot races. Is that a necessary goal for your candidate and for the party at this point?

WEAVER: Oh, absolutely, but let me tell you something, and we’re actually going to be sending a letter later to – to the DNC today from our attorneys.

This fund raising arrangement that George Clooney and others have donated into believing that they’re giving money to the down ballot candidates, two-thirds of the money is going actually to Hillary Clinton and only a third has been going to down ballot candidates. In addition to that, $15 million in the last three months of that money has gone into other fundraising operations that primarily benefit only Secretary Clinton. So, there’s a little bit of question about how this joint fundraising agreement is working. It seems not to be working as it’s supposed to which is to benefit the party and down ballot. Almost all the money is going to Hillary Clinton.

HILL: George Clooney thinks – seems to think, though, much of it is going to the races.

WEAVER: I know, I’ve watched…

HILL: Do you think he misunderstands the process?

WEAVER: Well, I think everybody does because the way in which they’re using this joint fundraising agreement in this particular campaign is different than almost anybody has done it ever before. So, the Clinton people are doing something that’s very, very unusual in the way that they’re operating this fund.

HILL: George Clooney also said that if in fact Bernie Sanders is the nominee, he would not only support him, but that he would raise money for him.

WEAVER: Sure.

HILL: So, he’s offering a bit of an olive branch in many ways. Is that something that the Sanders campaign needs to work on with its supporters and surrogates?

WEAVER: Well look, Bernie Sanders says that he will support the nominee, whoever that is, right? But – and he will obviously, you know, campaign for that person, but let’s be clear, Bernie Sanders doesn’t control anybody’s vote, right? People have come to support Bernie Sanders, and if Hillary Clinton wants to earn those votes, she’s going to have to earn them, she’s going to have to speak to the issues that have driven those people to come out for Senator Sanders, issues like income inequality, issues like war and peace, issues like campaign finance reform.

I mean, at the end of the day, every candidate has to earn the votes they get.

HILL: When it comes to, though, the general election, I know you want your candidate to be the nominee.

WEAVER: I do.

HILL: And in your mind, he’s going to be the nominee. If that is not the case, however, as you say every candidate does need to work for those votes, but how actively would Bernie Sanders help campaign and help convince some of his supporters that in fact getting on the side of the Democratic ticket as a whole is in their best interest? Is that how he feels?

WEAVER: Oh, absolutely. Look, as he has said over and over again, it would be a disaster for this country if the Republicans regained the White House. You know, it would be great if the Democrats could retake the Senate, make great strides in the House, win governor’s chairs, and that’s what – you know, that’s why Bernie Sanders is in this race, because he is in fact poll, after poll, after poll has shown, in fact, he is the candidate that can get that done.

It’d be very difficult with Hillary Clinton. He’ll obviously support her, but she is a much weaker general election candidate based just on the polls. I mean, it’s not my…

HILL: You mentioned the Senate races, which is what we were talking about off the top in terms of the down ballot races.

WEAVER: Sure.

HILL: How prepared is Bernie Sanders to actively campaign for some of those races?

WEAVER: Well, he has for years actively campaigned for other members of the Senate and in the House. You know, he just recently raised money, well over $600,000, for three House candidates who were running, three women who are running now in the western part of the country actually, and (inaudible) who is running here in New York state.

So, he is raising money for people, he has raised money for the DSCC this time, so he does raise money for Democrats. That’s a little bit of a talking point on the other side that’s not quite accurate, frankly.

HILL: Your candidate was saying he really feels, and he said this before, but saying he feels the polls really underestimate his standing in New York state. So then what are those polls missing? Where do you feel your chances lie now less than 24 hours out?

WEAVER: Well look, I mean, when – when pollsters do a poll, they have to make certain assumptions. Who’s going to come out, what age groups, so on and so forth. And you know, they often underestimate the number of young people who are come out in these races. Bernie Sanders has mobilized millions and millions of young people to come into the process, to come into the democratic party. And you know, those people tend to come out in much higher numbers when he’s on the ballot.

HILL: So, you think they’re going to be your ticket in New York?

WEAVER: Oh, we sure hope so.

HILL: All right, I know you told me you still feel you have it in the break (ph), you said you still have a little time left to get to work today.

WEAVER: We do, we have a little bit more time to get it done.

HILL: We’ll let you get to that, appreciate you taking some time for us. Jeff Weaver.

WEAVER: Happy to be here.

HILL: Thank you very much.

WEAVER: Thank you.