Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Sunday called on Sen. Bernie Sanders, her fellow 2020 Democratic presidential contender, to turn his campaign "in a different direction" after it reportedly provided talking points to its volunteers instructing them to paint Warren as the candidate of elites in conversations with voters, NBC News reports.
"I was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me," she told NBC News. "Bernie knows me and has known me for a long time. He knows who I am, where I come from, what I have worked on and fought for and the coalition and grassroots movement we are trying to build. Democrats want to win in 2020 we all saw the impact of the factionalism in 2016 and we can't have a repeat of that."
Warren's comments followed a Politico report which said Sanders' campaign is providing talking points to volunteers that say Warren is the candidate of elites who will not expand the Democratic base. The script, obtained by Politico, instructs volunteers to say Warren's supporters "are highly-educated, more affluent people who are going to show up and vote Democratic no matter what” and that “she's bringing no new bases into the Democratic Party.”
The Sanders campaign declined to comment to Politico but did not challenge the authenticity of the document.
Sanders responded to Warren's comments later Sunday, telling reporters in Iowa City that the kerfuffle amounted to "a little bit of a media blow up that kinda wants conflict."