Justice Democrats call on Clinton to support party nominee after Sanders comments

Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee, on Tuesday urged Hillary Clinton to back whichever candidate becomes the party nominee after the former secretary of State refused to commit to backing her 2016 primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). 

“In our collective fight against Donald Trump, we all have to be ready to support whoever the eventual Democratic nominee for president is. Defeating Trump is far more important than settling old scores,” Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement. 

Rojas called Clinton’s comments “unacceptable, out-of-touch, and dangerous.” 

“We’re calling on her to do the right thing and immediately say that she’ll do everything she can to support whoever becomes the Democratic nominee,” Rojas added. 

“It’s fine to criticize a candidate or nominee — as we surely will — but we must keep our eyes on the prize.”

Clinton refused to confirm whether she would endorse or campaign for Sanders if he wins the party nomination in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Tuesday. 

In the same interview, she confirmed that critical comments she made in an unreleased Hulu documentary about the 2016 campaign still hold true. 

“He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it,” Clinton is reported as saying in the documentary. 

Sanders brushed off Clinton’s criticism in a statement saying he is focused on the Senate impeachment trial beginning the same day. 

“My focus today is on a monumental moment in American history: the impeachment trial of Donald trump,” Sanders said. “Together, we are going to go forward and defeat the most dangerous president in American history.”