Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Wednesday that it would be difficult for Hillary Clinton to keep running for president if she were under criminal indictment.
Like his boss, who remarked to Clinton last fall that the country was sick of “your damn emails,” Weaver was hesitant to make the email issue central during his surprising appearance on the conservative morning show Fox & Friends. However, Sanders said Sunday that unpledged superdelegates would be taking a look at Clinton’s email scandal as they decided who to support at the Democratic convention.
Weaver said Sanders’ position had not changed, however, pointing out the “substantive” differences between him and Clinton on the issues. Co-host Brian Kilmeade, however, pointed to the State Department Inspector General report out last week that slammed Clinton’s email conduct.
“I know, but this is new, Jeff,” Kilmeade said. “You’re in second place with those issues. This could be something that gets into character and integrity and how you act in office.”
“Well, I think that the IG report really speaks for itself,” Weaver said.
“Anybody who’s interested in it can certainly go read it and see what they want, but look, the process is still going on with respect to the emails. There’s an FBI investigation going on. I think the State Department proper, as opposed to the IG, is also doing its own investigation, so this process still has a little ways to play out.”
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt noted a Rasmussen poll out Tuesday that showed 43 percent of respondents thought Clinton should cease campaigning immediately if she was charged with a felony regarding her server. Fifty percent said she should keep campaigning until a verdict was reached.
“Well, that’s obviously a wild hypothetical,” Weaver said. “I would find it difficult to believe that a candidate who’s under indictment could continue to run.”
Weaver insisted he was speaking from a “practical standpoint.”
“There’s no indication that’s going to happen, frankly,” he said.
Sanders and Clinton are locked in a tight race in delegate-rich California. Clinton appears poised to clinch the nomination next week, but Sanders has vowed to fight all the way to the nomination, pointing to the tight race between the two in the pledged delegate count.
