An aide to Hillary Clinton suggested Tuesday that Bernie Sanders is trying to “rig the system” by wooing Clinton’s superdelegates.
Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon, speaking to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day,” was referring to comments made earlier in the week by Donald Trump, who said he and Sanders were the victims of a “corrupt deal” in the primary process.
But, Fallon said, “If anybody is trying to rig the system right now to overturn the will of the people, it’s Sen. Sanders.”
Fallon noted that Clinton, who has nearly 450 more superdelegates than Sanders, also is leading the Vermont senator by more than 2 million votes. He said that the system is not rigged and that the rules have been in place for some time.
“So now that’s forcing Sen. Sanders to go out and talk about the idea that he wants to try to flip superdelegates and get him to overturn the will of the people as expressed through who’s won the most contests,” Fallon said.
But the Clinton campaign is not worried about Sanders being successful in attracting the superdelegates, Fallon said.
“We have a wide advantage right now in terms of the superdelegates as well as the pledged delegates,” he said.
Speaking in Rochester, New York, Trump on Sunday noted that although Sanders has won eight of the last nine contests, he is still well behind Clinton in the overall delegate count, thanks largely to her 448-superdelegate lead.
“You see what’s happening to me and Bernie Sanders,” Trump said Sunday in Rochester, New York. “It’s a corrupt deal going on.”
But Fallon said Trump’s comments were an attempt to boost Sanders’ candidacy in the hopes that he would be an easier Democratic challenger than Clinton.
“I think what you’re seeing from Donald Trump there trying to help boost Sen. Sanders is the same that you’ve seen for several months from the Republican National Committee trying to help out Sen. Sanders. It’s clear they want to run against Sen. Sanders in the general election,” Fallon said.