Bernie Sanders presidential campaign co-chair Nina Turner and Democratic operative Hilary Rosen, a supporter of former Vice President Biden, argue over the interpretation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail" (see tweets below transcript) and his meaning of "white moderate." On Chris Cuomo's CNN show, Thursday night the Sanders surrogate and Democratic operative clashed over race and politics.



UPDATE: Hilary Rosen gets herself in more trouble by using the term "angry black women" in her apology on Twitter. Rosen deleted the tweet after heavy criticism. See the tweet below the transcript.



Rosen told Turner, a black woman, that Martin Luther King Jr. never said to be concerned about white moderates, he said to be worried about the "silence of white moderates.



"Don't tell me about Martin Luther King Jr. Are you kidding me?" Turner said.



Turner told Rosen not to tell what King meant and explained that the "white moderates" passage was about those who are bystanders that are okay with not changing the status quo.



"What Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was talking about, he said it is the point that the white moderate wants things to be comfortable instead of focusing in on the bigger threat is not necessarily the white KKK member but more the white moderate that is more comfortable with keeping things the same," Turner said.



Rosen, a white woman, responded by telling Turner not to use MLK against Biden, going as far as to say she does not "have the standing" to do such a thing.



"Don't tell me what kind of standing I have as a black woman in America. How dare you?" an incredulous Turner said to Rosen.



Rosen told Turner she has standing as a black woman but not to attack the former Vice President using the words of MLK.



"You don't have the standing to attack Joe Biden using Martin Luther King's words," Rosen told the Sanders surrogate.



"Listen, don't dip into what I have to say about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr," Turner said. "How dare you as a white woman try to tell me what I'm supposed to feel and what I'm doing what now."



"That is not what I said. Don't you do that," Rosen said.





CHRIS CUOMO: Hilary, what I'm saying is on your side what you have to deal with is decades of controversial votes that look bad and that go along with stories of commitment to social justice and moments in [Joe Biden's] past that may not be accurate. And each one will be pointed out by the president. You did the crime bill. Obama was thinking about it when he was like 11 or whatever the president said today that Obama was thinking about the crime bill, too. I know it's B.S., but it is how Biden deals with it. You said you were arrested when you were with Mandela. I don't think so. You say that you were trained to be a protester and suffered. We don't think so. How do you deal with the record of votes and of stories that don't hold up?



HILARY ROSEN, BIDEN CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: You know, Nina referenced Dr. Martin Luther King [Jr.] before saying he said from the Birmingham jail that we should be concerned about white moderates. That's actually not what Martin Luther King said. What he said --



NINA TURNER, SANDERS CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: He did say that.



ROSEN: He said we should be worried about the silence of white moderates.



TURNER: Don't tell me about Martin Luther King Jr. Are you kidding me?



ROSEN: Nina --



CUOMO: She's making a language point, Nina.



ROSEN: What he said was we should be worrying about the silence of white moderates. And what we have in Joe Biden is a man that's not silent. He has a long record and many, many votes that in today's world feel like the wrong thing, were the wrong thing and he has discussed that over and over again as Bernie Sanders did on the gun votes and other things. So we can be talking about votes from 20 years ago or we can be talking about people's values and who they trust. And that's what Joe Biden is going to be talking about.



CUOMO: Last quick point to you, Nina.



TURNER: What Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was talking about, he said it is the point that the white moderate wants things to be comfortable instead of focusing in on the bigger threat is not necessarily the white KKK member but more the white moderate that is more comfortable with keeping things the same while pretending like there is no tension than to deal --



ROSEN: Don't use Martin Luther King against Joe Biden. You don't have that --



TURNER: First of all --



ROSEN: You don't have that standing. I'm sorry. You don't.



TURNER: Don't tell me what kind of standing I have as a black woman in America. How dare you?



ROSEN: You have a lot of standing as a black woman in America.



TURNER: First of all, you're dipping into something you don't understand. You need to -- I did not demean you --



ROSEN: You don't have the standing to attack Joe Biden using Martin Luther King's words.



TURNER: I didn't attack anybody. You're taking it that way.



Listen, don't dip into what I have to say about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. How dare you as a white woman try to tell me --



ROSEN: That is not what I said. Don't you do that.



TURNER: -- trying to tell me what I'm supposed to feel and what I'm doing what now.



CUOMO: Nina, Hillary, I'm out of time on this one --



TURNER: Chris, I didn't jump in on her, though and she wants to jump in on me.



CUOMO: You guys are in the same party. This is what you guys have to figure out. You're in the same party. And let me tell you, you better keep that same energy when you are up against Trump that you have against each other because he is bigger and badder than I think you guys are ready for.

It’s like a bad SNL skit. Every apology for doing a racism contains another racism. Hilary Rosen’s apologies are Racism Russian Dolls. pic.twitter.com/8Pbo7hQP3e — Woobie🌹A Bizarro FDR (@WoobieTuesday) March 6, 2020

Order over justice. Fascist pig Hilary Rosen changed the wording to suit her agenda. pic.twitter.com/7HvJfuGLSs — Bernie or Vest🌹 (@LiberalDose) March 6, 2020

the Hilary Rosen racism twords @ninaturner is disgusting, and also weird cause the Obama administration had to actively disown her when she said stay at home moms don't work, why is she aloud back in?! the Dems love nothing more than making problems for themselves and losing pic.twitter.com/eRLyys9hh6 — Unneeded vote haver (@ChasingGeek) March 6, 2020

This is absolutely despicable. @JoeBiden should fire Hilary Rosen IMMEDIATELY. How DARE she come at @ninaturner! pic.twitter.com/2vOO0SfNqV — YOUR NAME HERE (@TeddyBurnsEsq) March 6, 2020

Hilary Rosen thought it was a good idea to lecture QUEEN Nina Turner on Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. pic.twitter.com/8OaDqTCR82 — The Daily Angle (@thedailyangle) March 6, 2020

Rosen tries to apologize: