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Perez Dodges Three Times on Whether DNC Rigged Primary for Clinton

November 7, 2017

Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez dodged three times in one interview on Tuesday when asked about whether the DNC rigged the 2016 presidential primary in favor of Hillary Clinton and at Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I., Vt.) expense.

Perez was speaking with Bloomberg's Kevin Cirilli about the revelations in former interim DNC chair Donna Brazile's new book about the fact the Clinton campaign had a special agreement with the DNC before the 2016 primaries even began. Cirilli asked if the Clinton campaign's special deal was appropriate.

"Well, again, I've been out in Virginia for the last four days. I put 700 miles on the car," Perez said. "And with all due respect, nobody is asking about what happened back in 2016. They're all moving forward."

Cirilli asked Perez again if it should have happened.

"Again, the memorandum that you referred to also has a very explicit clause that says this only applies to the general election and ... it will not affect anything happening in the primary," Perez said before talking about a need for trust in the party.

Cirilli yet again asked Perez if the deal was fair.

"Do you think that it was fair for those memorandums to be signed the last time, and will that be allowed to happen again in 2020?" Cirilli asked.

"Well, again, everything that we do will be offered to everybody. And it's my understanding, again I wasn't there, but it's my understanding that all of those opportunities were offered to every candidate," Perez said.