Nevada Dem chair wants apology from Sanders campaign

Nevada Democratic Chairwoman Roberta Lange wants an apology from Bernie Sanders for death threats from his supporters after a heated state convention Saturday.

{mosads}”His statement was pretty weak that came out yesterday,” Lange told CNN Wednesday. “I feel like the Sanders campaign thinks that this kind of stuff is laughable, but I think it’s serious. A threat to somebody’s life is serious.” 

Tensions between the Sanders campaign and the national party burst into the open on Tuesday after mayhem in Las Vegas over the weekend. An ugly scene on the floor of the convention included Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) being booed off the stage, Democrats flipping chairs, refusing to leave and threatening Lange in the days following. 

Lange told CNN she, her husband and 5-year-old grandson have received death threats that increase in volume the longer Sanders refuses to apologize for his campaign’s role in Saturday’s chaos. 

“It makes me cringe and makes me frightful every time I hear it,” Lange said. “I think these kinds of apologies need to happen, and they need to realize that these are not laughable. These are threats to people’s lives that are very serious.” 

Here’s just one of hundreds of abusive texts/calls received by NV Dems chair @rlange9 after #nvdemconvention pic.twitter.com/Oe7WlORZNq

— Riley Snyder (@RileySnyder) May 17, 2016

Sanders issued a statement Tuesday condemning “any and all forms of violence” but denying accusations of promoting such behaviors among his supporters. The statement also claimed the Nevada Democratic Party abused its power to hurt his campaign with unfair votes and proceedings at the convention.

Several Democrats have called on Sanders to take responsibility and apologize. 

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called Sanders’s response “silly,” while Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused the Vermont senator of ignoring violence and threats by his supporters. 

“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 the intimidating has occurred, then that falls short of making sure that going forward this kind of conduct doesn’t occur,” Wasserman Schultz said on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday.