Reid: ‘Lay off’ Sanders criticism
WATCH: @SenatorReid: "Lay off Bernie Sanders a little bit, okay?" https://t.co/qbTDM4IYev
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 24, 2016
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday defended Bernie Sanders, saying the media should cut the Democratic presidential candidate some slack.
“I think we should just kind of lay off Bernie Sanders a little bit,” Reid told reporters after being asked whether he was concerned about Sanders’s “tenuous loyalty” to the Democratic Party.
{mosads}Sanders has come under fire from some party officials, who argue he is hurting front-runner Hillary Clinton’s chances in the general election by continuing to campaign aggressively against her.
Reid has generally refused to criticize Sanders, telling reporters earlier this year that he was fine with the Vermont senator staying in the presidential race until the Democratic National Convention in July in Philadelphia.
He added Tuesday that Sanders is a “good person,” saying “I have no criticism of Bernie at this stage.”
Reid took a harsher stance with Sanders after a chaotic scene at Nevada’s Democratic convention earlier this month. Sanders supporters turned out in force trying to win their candidate a few more delegates.
But Reid blamed those supporters for the situation at the convention and said he was “surprised” by Sanders’s “silly statement” defending them in the aftermath.
Reid said Saturday that the Nevada convention was “fair” to Sanders.
“We went out of our way to be fair to Bernie, even though the caucuses were won by Clinton in February,” he said at the time.
Sanders has defended his decision to stay in the race despite trailing Clinton big among pledged delegates.
He told ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday that his campaign was “invigorating American democracy.”
Reid added Tuesday that Sanders has “done some really good things.”
“The party has changed during his tenure here, and we’ll see what happens. I think Bernie’s a good man … and I think everything will work out well,” he said.
Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, brushed off questions about Sanders damaging the party.
“If Bernie Sanders walks out of the door at Philadelphia and says ‘I’m going to work to defeat Donald Trump,’ then we’re back together as a party as we should be,” he told reporters.
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