'Disown them:' Biden criticizes Sanders for supporters' online attacks
'Disown them:' Biden criticizes Sanders for supporters' online attacks
Biden, in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," waded into a spat betweenSanders supportersand leaders of The Culinary Union, a powerful labour group in Nevada that has been critical of the senator's healthcare proposals.
Nevada holds the next nominating contest in theDemocraticpresidential primary. "He may not be responsible for it but he has some accountability," Biden said in the interview that will air on Sunday morning.
"If any of my supporters did that, I'd disown them. Flat disown them. The stuff that was said online, the way they threatened these two women who are leaders in that Culinary Union. It is outrageous."
Biden has watched his standing in opinion polls slide as Sanders has risen to secure front-runner status. The Culinary Workers Union said supporters ofSanders "viciously" attackedthe organization via Twitter, text, voicemail and direct messaging after the union criticized the senator's universal healthcare plan on Tuesday.
[ Democratic 2020 US presidential candidate and former US vice president Joe Biden at a campaign event (Courtesy: Reuters ]
Sanders, in turn, called for anend to allonline harassment but stopped short of acknowledging that the attacks were coming from his supporters. Instead, Sanders suggested in an interview on "PBS NewsHour" on Thursday that the attacks might be coming from people posing as his supporters.
"And I'm not so sure, to be honest with you, that they are necessarily part of our movement," Sanders said.