Subject: Flag: White House Press Briefing 05-17-16
From: "Debose, Levi" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Garcia, Walter" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 12:54:58 -0700

Flag on Nevada Question

Has POTUS OR the White House been tracking what has happened in Nevada at the Democratic State Convention there. Sanders supoprters were reporteredly making death threats to the state party chair. The state party sent a letter to the DNC. Does the White House has a reaction and there is a lot of emotion around this primary process, so do you think it is time for the POTUS to step in and calm the waters and help unify the party?

JE: Well as it relates to the delegate selection process, I will refer you to the DNC. They have a very well established process and they review the plans for every state and every state does it differently,which makes the process a little cumbersome, but it's the way that each state remains control over the process to elect delegates to the Democratic convention. At the same time, you have heard the President talk about how political disputes can never justify an act of violence. POTUS talked about this in his speech at the Rutgers commencement ceremony just on Sunday, about the importance of good citizenship, about focusing on facts and evidence, and about how our the establishment in political discussion was  intended to solve disputes to prevent violence from occuring in the first place. The POTUS's expectation is that there will be a committement to that principle of non-violence and the way that candidates in both parties address this question publicly is something that the public will want to see.

Is the WH disturbed by the actions of members of their own party brining death threats to their own state party chair over what could be determined as political disputes?

JE: I havent looked at the individual claims that have been made, but POTUS on a number of occasions has spoken out against violence, and has certainly said that a political dispute like this can never be used to justify an act of violence. That is a principal that he has championed a long time and it is one that politicains in both parties, wether they are in an election year or not, will express support for that principle.