2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Sunday rejected comparisons between one of his supporters shooting Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and the suspected gunman in the El Paso shooting who allegedly shared President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration stance.
Right before Sanders’ interview on “Face the Nation,” Scalise argued that blaming Trump and his racist rhetoric for the El Paso shooting is as wrong as blaming Sanders for his shooting in 2017.
CBS host Margaret Brennan later asked Sanders for his response to Scalise’s comment.
The Vermont senator said that his “non-violent” movement didn’t create a political climate that led James Hodgkinson, a former volunteer for Sanders’ 2016 campaign, to shoot up a Republican baseball practice and injure Scalise.
Whereas Trump, Sanders argued, “creates a climate where we are seeing a significant increase in hate crimes in this country.”
Law enforcement is currently investigating the shooting in El Paso, Texas as a hate crime after authorities found a possible connection between the suspected gunman and a hate-filled manifesto online that railed against a “Hispanic invasion–rhetoric that closely mirrored Trump’s own racist attacks against immigrants at the border.
Watch Sanders below:
Sanders says he didn't create the climate for Rep. Scalise's shooting, unlike Trump before the El Paso shooting. pic.twitter.com/P5Pmw671eJ
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 11, 2019
