Trump says no to Sanders debate

Democratic candidate responds: ‘What are you afraid of?’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sings the National Anthem during a rally at the Anaheim Convention Center, Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in Anaheim, Calif.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sings the National Anthem during a rally at the Anaheim Convention Center, Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in Anaheim, Calif.

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump put an end to proposals for a debate between him and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, calling it "inappropriate" to spar with a second-place candidate.

photo

AP

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to reporters after a campaign event, Saturday, April 9, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York.

photo

AP

In this May 12, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks in New York.

Trump added that he will wait to debate the official Democratic nominee and also called the Democratic nominating process "totally rigged."

In a statement Friday, Trump said that "it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher," criticizing front-runner Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as "crooked."

"As much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders," Trump said, "I will wait to debate the first place finisher in the Democratic Party."

Sanders, at a campaign stop near the Inglewood Oil Field in California, expressed hope that Trump "changes his mind."

"Mr. Trump is known to change his mind many times in a day," the senator from Vermont said. "Well, Mr. Trump, what are you afraid of? Why do you not want to see a debate here in California?"

Sanders said he has plenty of questions for Trump about his comments on Muslims, Hispanics and women.

Sanders' campaign also released a statement saying the campaign has received two offers by television networks looking to air a Trump-Sanders debate.

"Both offers include a major contribution to charity," Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said in a statement.

Trump's decision came a day after Trump secured enough support from delegates to clinch the nomination. But despite having the party's backing largely in hand, Trump continued leveling attacks at prominent Republicans who have not sided with his cause.

At a rally earlier this week in New Mexico, Trump chastised Republican Gov. Susana Martinez for not doing her job when it came to unemployment and federal food aid.

Martinez, who has not endorsed the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and initially threw support behind the campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida in March, skipped the event in Albuquerque, citing a busy schedule.

Trump's comments put the second-term governor into the company of other prominent Republicans who have faced attacks as Trump attempts to consolidate support ahead of the final round of primaries on June 7, which includes New Mexico.

Key politicians rushed to Martinez's defense, including Rubio, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"Susana Martinez is a great governor, she turned deficits into surpluses, she cut taxes," Ryan told reporters this week.

Bush tweeted that Martinez is "the future of our party," and Walker said Martinez had driven conservative changes in a state that President Barack Obama won twice.

At Tuesday's rally in Albuquerque, where protesters hurled burning T-shirts and overran barricades, Trump described New Mexico as a state beset by unemployment and rising dependence on federal food assistance, placing the blame squarely on Martinez.

"Your governor has got to do a better job," Trump said. "She's not doing the job. Hey, maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico. I'll get this place going."

Asked about Martinez at a news conference Thursday, Trump acknowledged that she had favored another Republican candidate, but he added, "I imagine she'll come over to my side."

Martinez spokesman Michael Lonergan said the governor "will not be bullied into supporting" Trump, describing the accusations as political potshots. The governor's office said the businessman had used economic data dating to 2000, a decade before Martinez was elected, to exaggerate trends while overlooking her efforts to tie food benefits to work-related requirements.

Martinez, who is chairman of the Republican Governors Association, has resisted endorsing Trump as she crisscrossed the country to speak at GOP conventions and fundraisers. A spokesman said the governor needs to know more about his plans to support New Mexico's national weapons laboratories and military bases and ensure other federal funding to the state.

But Trump was not alone in his criticism of Martinez. Members of the New Mexico Republican Party have assailed the governor and a top political adviser for their handling of the economy during an oil and gas downturn. Unemployment in the state has fallen gradually to 6.2 percent in April, leaving New Mexico among the five worst states for jobs.

Email Report Reaction

With Trump forging new divisions in the Republican Party, the Democrats, too, are nearing a split.

Clinton faces renewed criticism over her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, after an inspector general's report faulted her for violating the State Department's records-retention policy. The FBI has an ongoing investigation into the handling of classified information.

Attendees at Sanders rallies in California have repeatedly expressed hope that the inquiries would result in criminal charges against Clinton.

"If there's any chance of her getting indicted, they shouldn't even consider her for the nomination," said Zachary O'Neill, 21, of Escondido, Calif. "We can't have a criminal in the White House."

"We can't go back and undo giving her the Democratic nomination," said Jennifer Peters, 28, of Costa Mesa.

Peters added that if Clinton had broken the law, she should be held accountable.

"I'm hoping that the FBI sends a strong message to people like her, as well as other people in politics who are using their position of power to manipulate the system for their own personal advancement," Peters said. "She feels like she can do whatever she wants with absolute impunity, and that she somehow is above any type of repercussions."

Sanders himself has continued to hit Clinton over her positions on Wall Street, trade deals, the minimum wage and super political action committees -- but not her emails.

Yet the email investigation keeps coming up in conversations with Sanders' supporters, who are all too aware of Clinton's delegate lead and increasingly desperate for an equalizer.

"She should be removed," said Julie Crowell, a stay-at-home mother from Tustin, who attended a Sanders rally in Anaheim on Tuesday and said she planned to vote for a third-party candidate if Sanders failed to overtake Clinton and capture the Democratic nomination. "I don't know why she's not already being told, 'You can't run because you're being investigated.' I don't know how that's not a thing."

Information for this article was contributed by Morgan Lee, Russell Contreras, Erica Werner and staff members of The Associated Press; by Yamiche Alcindor of The New York Times; and by Noah Bierman of Tribune New Service.

A Section on 05/28/2016

Upcoming Events