Former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 Democratic presidential campaign came under fire Wednesday after senior advisor Symone Sanders refused when pressed for over three minutes on live television to say the campaign trusted caucus results out of Iowa’s Monday contest, which was marred by reporting issues but the numbers from which consistently show Biden in at best fourth place.
“I guess we’ll have to take the Iowa Democratic party at their word,” said Sanders, while refusing to say she believed the results were accurate.
The remarks came during an interview with CNN Wednesday afternoon at around 1:15 pm.
“Joe Biden’s campaign is questioning the legitimacy of the Iowa election results because they lost badly,” said progressive group Justice Democrats. “This is Trumpian and sows the worst forms of discord.”
Watch the exchange:
Joe Biden’s campaign is questioning the legitimacy of the Iowa election results because they lost badly.
This is Trumpian and sows the worst forms of discord.
pic.twitter.com/p3vZkrwKRQ— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) February 5, 2020
Biden, long a frontrunner in the primary for the nomination, severely underperformed expectations in Iowa. He currently sits in fourth place, far below popular vote frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and state delegate frontrunner former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) trails Sanders and Buttigieg in both counts.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Biden told supporters in New Hampshire of Iowa Wednesday. “We took a gut punch.”
The count in Iowa was marred by reporting issues stemming from an app developed by Democratic Party-affiliated company Shadow Inc., which is itself tied to the center-left non-profit Acronym. As Common Dreams reported, the app has come under increased scrutiny since Monday’s results.
Symone Sanders’ remarks on CNN were not the first time in recent days the campaign has challenged the numbers from the Hawkeye state. On Tuesday, the Biden camp questioned the transparency of the process as results from 62% of precincts came in. On Wednesday afternoon at press time, that amount stood at 75%.
But the Biden advisor was nonetheless crossing a line, said CNN‘s Zach Wolff.
“This is not going to help anyone trust the process,” Wolff said.