Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez refused to accept any responsibility for the chaos in Iowa that has thrown a wrench into the Democratic primary process.
Days after the Iowa caucuses took place, there are finally results to show former Mayor Pete Buttigieg barely in the lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT). Many are doubting the accuracy of the results since the app the Iowa Democratic Party used failed on Monday and reports stated it is vulnerable to hacking.
"How much of this is on you, chairman?" CNN anchor John Berman asked Perez on Friday.
"Well, again, the Iowa Democratic Party runs the caucus. Okay? And they — what happened was unacceptable," Perez replied. "At the same time, we came in there, we want to make sure that everything is right, and we at the Democratic National Committee — you know, this was unacceptable. And that’s why we had people — we still have people on the ground there. We completed the counting last night."
Perez explained the party will continue to ensure subsequent voting in other states will not turn into a disaster.
"And we’re going to continue not only to work in Iowa, but also to learn the lessons of Iowa. So moving forward we are — we have caucuses in the remaining states that are — that run smoothly," he said.
As President Trump gave his first post-acquittal press conference on Thursday, Perez called for the Iowa Democratic Party "to immediately begin a recanvass" of votes.
A recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) February 6, 2020
The IDP will continue to report results.