Nicole Gaudiano

Burlington Free Press

WASHINGTON -- Jane Sanders raised some eyebrows about whether she was trying to send a message with her recent retweet of one of the "Bernie or Bust" crowd’s favorite videos of her husband from the Democratic primary campaign.

The video clip, from an April 25 MSNBC town hall, shows Sen. Bernie Sanders responding to a college student who asked whether Sanders would encourage his supporters to vote for his then-rival Hillary Clinton if he lost the primary campaign. The student said many of his supporters were considering writing him in, voting for a third-party candidate or not voting at all.

“We are not a movement where I can snap my fingers and say to you or to anybody else what you should do, because you won't listen to me,” Sanders, I-Vt., responded. “You shouldn't. You'll make these decisions yourself.”

Sanders has since endorsed Clinton, and he has recently been speaking out against people casting "protest votes" as some millennials are showing a surprising interest in third-party candidates.

His wife’s retweet of the video on Friday prompted the headline, “Why Did Jane Sanders Tweet Bernie’s ‘Don’t Listen to Me’ Video?” on the news site, Heavy.com. Jane Sanders is considered a close political adviser to her husband.

Michael Briggs, the senator's spokesman, wrote in an email, "Jane's tweet makes the same point Bernie has made many times, that this election will be decided on issues like creating jobs, boldly addressing climate change and making college affordable. Jane was just saying listen to the candidates."

The original tweet from Heath Byers included both of Sanders’ Twitter handles and the hashtags #FridayFeeling, #JustAskBernie and #OurRevolution. The video headline read, "Bernie Sanders The Movement Should Not Listen to Me” and the hashtag #BernieorBust flashes at the end of the video.

Heavy.com notes that the video “became a rallying cry for many #BernieorBust supporters, who believed it was Bernie’s way of telling them not to vote for Clinton or listen to his future endorsements.”

The video clip doesn’t show Sanders later during the town hall saying, “I will do everything in my power to make sure that no Republican gets into the White House in this election cycle.”

What's included in the clip is Sanders' statement that it’s incumbent upon Clinton, if she wins the nomination, to tell people “who have serious misgivings about a candidate who has received millions of dollars from Wall Street and other special interests” that the United States should take on “the greed of the drug companies” and pass a “Medicare for all” health care system. He said she should work to make public colleges and universities tuition free and “come on board” and say she’ll take on the fossil fuel industry and pass a carbon tax.

“It is incumbent upon Secretary Clinton to reach out not only to my supporters, but to all of the American people, with an agenda that they believe will represent the interests of working families, lower income people, the middle class, those of us who are concerned about the environment and not just big money interests,” he says.