Story highlights "No, he doesn't have a point," Sanders said of Trump's claim that the DNC election was "rigged"

Sanders implied he would not give the DNC his presidential campaign's massive email list

(CNN) Bernie Sanders said on "State of the Union" Sunday that he doesn't believe his candidate for Democratic National Committee chairman, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, was defeated Saturday because the election was rigged, but the system could use some retooling.

The Vermont senator was responding to a question from CNN's Jake Tapper about whether President Donald Trump had a point when he tweeted early Sunday: "Bernie's guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance."

Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017

"No, he doesn't have a point," Sanders said, before offering a criticism of an election process that put the party leadership decision in the hands of the mere 447 voting members of the DNC. "That's what the system is -- and one of the things [new DNC Chairman Tom Perez] is going to have to change is to figure out how we elect national Democratic leaders. I'm not quite impressed with the process that exists."

The race for DNC chair had come to be seen as a proxy war between Sanders' progressive wing of the party and the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton centrist supporters, who backed Perez.

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