begin quote from:
Bernie Sanders blasts Trump birther statement: 'This is pathetic'
| CNN | - |
(CNN)
Sen. Bernie Sanders sarcastically dismissed a statement from Donald
Trump's campaign saying that the Republican nominee now believes
President Barack Obama is a US citizen, arguing that the "birther"
movement is about "delegitimizing the first ...
Bernie Sanders blasts Trump birther statement: 'This is pathetic'
Story highlights
- Bernie Sanders slammed Donald Trump's attempts to put the "birther" issue to rest
- Sanders also pressed the case for Clinton and presented the 2016 election as a stark choice
(CNN)Sen.
Bernie Sanders sarcastically dismissed a statement from Donald Trump's
campaign saying that the Republican nominee now believes President
Barack Obama is a US citizen, arguing that the "birther" movement is
about "delegitimizing the first African-American president in the
history of our country."
Appearing
Friday on "New Day" on CNN, Sanders offered a caustic rejection of the
Trump campaign's statement, put out by spokesman Jason Miller on
Thursday night.
"Well
isn't that something. My word! After eight years of having President
Obama as president, Donald Trump now thinks he's a legitimate president.
Well I'm just overwhelmed with emotion," Sanders told CNN's Chris
Cuomo.
"Look, this is pathetic. And
this goes to the root of what Trump's campaign is about," said Sanders.
"Let's be clear -- it's about bigotry. You remember, let's all
remember, that a few years ago, Donald Trump was the leader of the
so-called 'birther' movement. And what the birther movement was about
was not being critical of Obama. This is democracy, we can criticize
Obama. It was delegitimizing the first African-American president."
"It
is not acceptable for a candidate for president of the United States to
be arguing whether or not our President was born in this country."
Sanders
also drew a line between Trump's role in mainstreaming the birther
movement in 2012 and his presidential campaign in 2016, saying that "I
think this is part of his entire campaign of bigotry" and that Trump is
"trying to appeal to those extreme, extreme, extreme extremes, who still
believe that Obama was not born in America."
While
he mounted a vigorous primary challenge to eventual Democratic nominee
Hillary Clinton, Sanders pressed the case for a Clinton presidency
Friday and sought to woo disaffected supporters of his who remain
resistant her.
"Please, anybody who
supports me -- do not think that Donald Trump in any way, shape or form
reflects the point of view that I have," he said. Noting Trump's
ability to dominate news cycles, Sanders said, "Don't worry about what
CNN has on the air -- worry about your own lives, which candidate issue
after issue after issue is better. And I think the answer is by far
Hillary Clinton."
Sanders also presented the 2016 election as a stark choice, and accused Trump of lacking core beliefs.
"Either
Hillary Clinton is going to become president or Donald Trump is going
to become president. And I'm going to work as hard as I can to prevent
Trump from becoming president," he said.
"Now,
I ran against Clinton for a year. Of course my views are different than
Clinton's on many issues. No question about it. The problem is Trump --
we don't know what he stands for. I can criticize Hillary Clinton for
this, that, and the other thing. Trump literally changes his views every
other day."
No comments:
Post a Comment