Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.) repeatedly dodged during a Tuesday interview with Chuck Todd on MSNBC about whether she will remain as the DNC chair due to her very public disputes with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and other Democrats.
"If you are the impediment to unity between Sanders and Clinton, do you wash your hands of this post and walk away?" Todd asked.
"You know, Chuck, I'm so proud of our incredible team at the DNC that has been working night and day for months to stand up our general election effort all across this country, make sure that we can hire hundreds of staff to place in battleground states, which we've been doing. In fact, just about a week or so ago, there was an article that talked about the panic that has been struck in the hearts of Trump supporters, because we are clearly already out-organizing and out-mobilizing the Republicans. They're not even staffing up nearly the way we are or getting organized. We have a digital and technological advantage that we've maintained and expanded. So, we are singularly focused," Wasserman Shultz said in an extended riff completely unrelated to Todd’s question.
The riff continued.
"We're all going to be coming together to unite against, making sure that the most dangerous presumptive nominee that any political party has ever nominated in Donald Trump, who, as I said, just called in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history—in my home state—Donald Trump demonstrated his so-called leadership by calling for the resignation of the president of the United States and questioning whether he was more committed to terrorists than he was to our country and that's outrageous and unacceptable and that's what we're singularly focused on at the DNC, to make sure we elect a Democratic president in the fall," Wasserman Schultz said, saying not a word in response to Todd’s answer.
Todd tried again.
"I understand that, but Bernie Sanders has a list of demands. One includes changing the leadership at the DNC and he spoke about all the leadership, not just you," Todd said. "Are you, do you feel as if your job is part of this negotiation between Clinton and Sanders?"
"No. What I know is that we are working hard to make sure that we have the best nominating convention that any political party has ever put on, that will launch our nominee to the White House and into the fall campaign we continue to draw very stark and clear contrasts between our party's nominee and Donald Trump, who has, as you've reported, proposed banning an entire religion and even his own party members are condemning him for that proposal, declaring entire ethnicities like Mexicans, who just for coming to this country to make a better way of life for themselves and this family, rapists and drug dealers, saying we should deport 11 million undocumented immigrants," Wasserman Schultz said. "I mean, this man is not only unqualified, he's disqualified himself from being a candidate for president or even getting anywhere near the White House. That's what we're focused on."
Todd called out Wasserman Schultz for ducking his question.
"Congresswoman, Madame Chairwoman, I'm impressed with how you shifted this back to Donald Trump, but I want to go back—" Todd said.
"—That's what the focus is. Our focus at the DNC is not on anything else other than making sure we can elect a Democratic president," Wasserman Schultz said. "That's what we should all be focused on."
Later in the interview, Todd tried again to bring up the subject, and Wasserman Schultz gave something approximating an answer.
"I just want to clarify—one of my producers isn't fully—you are, you plan on being the chair of the DNC through the election in November?" Todd said.
"I am planning on continuing to focus all the way through the election to the end of my term, on making sure that we can elect Democrats up and down the ballot, especially and including the president of the United States," Wasserman Schultz said.