Sanders Responds to Attacks from Trump
(CNN) Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he's never encouraged his supporters to disrupt rallies, and that the anger and violence GOP front-runner Donald Trump incites is "not good for the country."
"To suggest that our campaign is telling people to disrupt his campaign is a lie. We don't," he said. "And we have millions of supporters and some of them will do what they do. But our campaign has never, not once, organized any effort to disrupt Mr. Trump's rallies or anybody else's rallies. That's not what we do."
Sanders' comments came after Trump himself suggested Sanders supporters were causing the disruptions at his rallies, suggesting he may begin sending supporters to Sanders rallies to cause similar disruptions.
Sanders pointed to an instance at a Trump rally where a man sucker-punched a fellow rally attendee, and to allegations that Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski got rough with a female reporter, as proof of the violence of the Trump campaign.
"Donald Trump is literally inciting violence with his supporters. He's saying, 'If you go out and beat somebody up, that's OK, I'll pay the legal fees.' That's an outrage and I would hope that Mr. Trump tones it down big time and tells his supporters that violence is not acceptable in the American political process."
Sanders also says that though protesters may personally chose to demonstrate at anybody’s rally, they should be able to do so without fear.
"I very much hope that he understands that in a democracy, people should be allowed to go to anybody's rally, peacefully demonstrate without fear of being beaten up. So I really hope he tones it down. This is not good for the country."