#BernieComeBack

Senator Sanders, it’s time for your press conference. Here’s the speech.

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My fellow Americans, I’d like to give a brief update on the state of the Democratic primary. As you know, earlier this month, I made the decision to temporarily suspend our campaign because I believed it was in the best way to defeat Donald Trump. The president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us just how important that is.

There is more to this problem than meets the eye. See the rest.

We cannot afford four more years of sociopathy and ignorance. We cannot afford four more years of pathological lying. We cannot afford four more years of the most dangerous president in U.S. history. That is the reason I’m here streaming to you this evening.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve witnessed the emergence of some increasingly troubling evidence supporting the allegations concerning my Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. Two years ago, I voted with Senate Democrats in opposition to Justice Kavanaugh. Though we were unable to stop his confirmation, I was proud to stand with Dr. Ford:

“[Dr. Ford’s] very credible allegations of sexual assault … have not been fully investigated … [despite her having] courageously testified.” — Sanders Statement on Kavanaugh Cloture Vote, 2018

Vice President Biden also spoke up his support for Dr. Ford and the #MeToo movement:

“For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real.” — Joe Biden, the Kavanaugh Hearings, 2018

“I think she has the right to make her claims and get a public hearing, and the public will get their own conclusions.” — Bernie Sanders, on Tara Reade, 4/16/20

Given that position, I had hoped Joe would help us apply the same standard to his former aide’s very serious allegations of sexual assault. In an interview last week, I called for a public hearing. To my great disappointment, Joe has not only failed to facilitate that, he has yet to even personally mention Tara Reade by name.

Tara, first and foremost, I’d like to offer you my apology. For many years, I have worked with Joe and considered him a friend. I struggled profoundly to come to terms with the implications of your account, but I believe I have finally done that. Your story, like Dr. Ford’s, is credible, and the mounting evidence corroborating the events you describe demands decisive action.

During President Trump’s impeachment hearing, Representative Adam Schiff spoke poignantly on my obligation as a senator to pursue truth and justice.

Democrats are a lot more enthusiastic about applying this logic to Republicans 🤷

“Right matters. And the truth matters. Otherwise we are lost.” — Adam Schiff, on the impeachment of Donald J. Trump

Once again, Republican Senators saw to it that justice was not done. Like in 2018, they chose the pursuit of power over the pursuit of truth.

Like many Americans, I was shocked at the number of voters willing to forgive Trump’s sexual misconduct in 2016. However, I don’t think too many of those voters were Democrats. If we allow the #MeToo movement we helped build to become a victim of our political convenience, our party’s base may not be so forgiving.

Delaware Senator Joe Biden and Tara Reade around the time of her alleged assault.

What do we say to the women who tell us they can’t make a choice between two men facing credible assault allegations? What if they say they are victims

of sexual violence themselves? Are we really going to ask survivors to unify behind the party that abandoned them? Can that kind of choice turn out the women and young people we need to win?

It is my belief that we cannot defeat Donald Trump with a nominee who has failed to address credible allegations of sexual assault for more than a month. Therefore, effective immediately, I am unsuspending my campaign for President of the United States.

I’m also calling on Joe Biden to provide a comprehensive response to Ms. Reade’s account that addresses the following:

“After working for a prominent senator, [Tara] could not get through with her problems at all … she chose not to [go to the press] out of respect for him.” — Tara’s Mother at the time of the alleged assault

In accordance with the standard established nearly unanimously by Democrats during the Kavanaugh hearings, it is my position that until my opponent is able to provide significant exculpatory evidence, he is not qualified for our party’s nomination. If DNC leadership disagrees with me, I also call upon them to provide a similarly thorough explanation for their position.

Current Democratic primary delegate breakdown (from LA Progressive: The Next FDR).

If you’re anything like me, you probably haven’t been keeping much track of where the delegate race stands amid the chaos of the coronavirus. To summarize, we have well over 900 delegates and are within 400 of Joe. We will need to win around 1000 of the 1700, or about 60%, of the delegates that remain to surpass him.

The good news is that in state after state, exit polls showed that millions of Americans who voted for my opponent actually preferred our policies, but thought Joe would be more able to to unify the party. In light of the events of the last few weeks, I’d encourage the millions who have yet to make their voices heard to review their position on the campaign best equipped to unify the party and stand up to Donald Trump.

Having doing so ourselves, my team and I believe that not only is our campaign best positioned to defeat Trump, but that we are the only campaign capable of doing it at all. Therefore, starting tomorrow, we will be holding virtual rallies every day to reach out to Americans across the political spectrum who are struggling to cope with the pandemic, and to discuss the solutions that will both see us through it and propel us beyond it.

In the spirit of President Roosevelt, let’s have history look back on this as the moment when Americans, once again facing a national crisis, stood together in defiance of fear. Cared about each other. Loved each other. Made sure that we all got through this together. That would be enough to emerge from this tragedy a battered union, but also, a more perfect one. Thank you all very much.