Sanders ‘hopes Clinton will face charges’
Democrat refuses to end White House campaign in case his rival is indicted over email scandal
Bernie Sanders is refusing to withdraw from the Democratic race to the White House, reportedly hoping that Hillary Clinton, who clinched the nomination on Tuesday, could be indicted for endangering America’s secrets. Mrs Clinton took four out of six states available in the final Super Tuesday of the race. But Mr Sanders is reportedly holding on to a remote possibility that the former secretary of state could be indicted for putting top secret information at risk as his best hope of victory. The FBI is investigating Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email server.
BERNIE SANDERS is refusing to withdraw from the Democratic race to the White House, reportedly hoping that Hillary Clinton, who clinched the nomination on Tuesday, could be indicted for endangering America’s secrets.
Mrs Clinton took four out of six states available in the final Super Tuesday of the race – including the big prize of California – and said she was “really emotional” at becoming the first female presidential nominee of one of America’s major political parties.
But the joyous atmosphere was tempered when Mr Sanders delivered a defiant address in which he hardly mentioned Mrs Clinton who was jeered by his supporters.
With Mrs Clinton desperately attempting to mend ties with his supporters ahead of her general election showdown with Donald Trump, Mr Sanders has shown little interest in party unity.
According to a report in Politico, Mr Sanders is holding on to a remote possibility that the former secretary of state could be indicted for putting top secret information at risk as their best hope of victory. Mrs Clinton’s unapproved use of a private email server while running the state department is currently under FBI investigation.
In such a scenario, Mr Sanders would attempt to convince so-called “superdelegates” to change their allegiance at the convention, overriding Mrs Clinton’s sizable advantage among the delegates awarded according to primary election results.
With many expecting the Vermont senator to drop out of the race when Mrs Clinton cinched the required delegate count, Mr Sanders instead pledged to fight on through the party’s national convention next month in Philadelphia.
“We are going to fight hard to win the primary in Washington, DC,” he said, referring to the lone remaining contest. “And then, we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.” But even many of his al- lies now believe things have gone far enough.
Jeff Merkley, the first fellow senator to endorse Mr Sanders, publicly called on him yesterday to leave the race.
“Once a candidate has won a majority of the pledged delegates and a majority of the popular vote, which Secretary Clinton has now done, we have our nominee,” he told The Washington
Post. Barack Obama, who remained neutral as Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders grappled for the nomination, is anxious to enter the fray against Mr Trump, and is expected to urge Mr Sanders to step aside before he officially endorses his former cabinet member.
He called Mr Sanders on Tuesday night, and the two are scheduled to meet today in Washington. Senate mi- nority leader Harry Reid is also to meet Mr Sanders.
The White House released a statement on Tuesday night which said the president “thanked Senator Sanders for energising millions of Americans” with his progressive agenda, but also acknowledged that Mrs Clinton had “secured the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic nomination”.