Congressman Ro Khanna, national co-chair for Bernie Sanders’ campaign, defended the Vermont senator Monday night on CNN over serious criticism he’s received for comments he made about Cuba under Castro Sunday night.

“We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba,” Sanders said on 60 Minutes. “But, you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?”

CNN’s Erin Burnett spoke with Khanna about the words of condemnation Sanders has received from fellow Democrats, asking, “Do you think that perhaps he went too far on Castro?”

Khanna said Sanders wasn’t trying to whitewash anything:

“Senator Sanders clearly believes that Fidel Castro was a dictator, that he had massive human rights abuses, that he engaged in mass shootings, and there is absolutely no apology for what he did. He did things that were heinous and human rights violations that were indefensible. But the point is that what Senator Sanders is saying is let’s go back to Obama’s policy where Obama was trying to have some normalization with Cuba, and not support Donald Trump’s policy, where Donald Trump has reversed everything Obama did.”

“All Senator Sanders is saying is let’s go back to President Obama’s policy,” he added.

You can watch above, via CNN.

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