President Trump early Sunday tweeted that the race for Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman was “rigged.”
“Bernie’s guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!” Trump added.
{mosads}Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez on Saturday defeated Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) to become the next DNC chairman in a win for centrist Democrats.
The race, which split along establishment-grassroots lines, in many ways mirrored the divisive 2016 presidential primary between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Hillary Clinton.
Sanders and many of his allies backed Ellison, the first-ever Muslim elected to Congress and a star on the left.
“Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!” Trump tweeted on Saturday, sparking a response from the new DNC chairman.
Trump throughout the campaign said the Democratic primary system was rigged against Sanders and appealed for the senator’s supporters to back the real estate mogul’s campaign.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) stepped down as DNC chairwoman last year after hacked emails posted by WikiLeaks appeared to show DNC staffers working to undermine Sanders.