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In a letter to CNN from his campaign, Sanders spoke Saturday to the Board of Directors of the Center for American Progress and the CAP Action Fund, saying his activities play a "destructive role" in "the mission." critical of defeating Donald Trump ". Sanders cited two articles about him in ThinkProgress, a website run by the political arm of CAP, and earlier articles focusing on Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker.
The exchange threatens to destroy an already frayed public détente between the wider circles surrounding Sanders and Clinton, who fought in a bitter presidential election campaign that still worries many Democrats, if only because they fear a conflictual repetition in 2020.
CAP, founded in 2003 by John Podesta, the last chief of staff of former President Bill Clinton and president of Hillary Clinton's 2016 election campaign, has often been accused by Progressive followers of Sanders of seeking to undermine its political agenda – debates often jump on social media platforms like Twitter.
Sanders' Saturday letter follows the publication by ThinkProgress of a video last week suggesting that Sanders had changed his message, which for a long time distinguished "millionaires and billionaires" after becoming a millionaire himself.
In a tweet on Sunday, ThinkProgress' editor-in-chief, Jodi Enda, defended the site as an "editorial independent journalistic entity," and said "neither the cap nor the action of the CAP had nothing to do with the article or video regarding Senator Sanders nor with any related articles. other political leader ".
Enda previously worked for CNN Politics for her election coverage in 2016.
In his letter, Sanders also spoke to the president of the CAP, Clinton's close adviser during the 2016 campaign, accusing him of hypocrisy and "personal" criticism.
"The leader of the Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden, has repeatedly called for unity while denigrating my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas," wrote Sanders, adding: "me and d & # 's 39 Other Democrats Run Principled and Ideas-Based Campaigns Meanwhile, the Center for American Progress uses, among other things, its resources to defame Senator Booker, Senator Warren, and myself. the way to build unity or win the general election. "
"ThinkProgress is part of CAP Action: it has been editorial independent of CAP and CAP Action for years, and we do not suggest, edit, approve, or see their stories before publishing them. And in this particular case, no one at CAP or Action CAP was aware of the existence of this article or video before the publication, "said Daniella Gibbs Léger, executive vice president for communication and privacy. strategy in American Progress, in a statement released Sunday. "Indeed, ThinkProgress publishes articles with which we disagree.We can not and will not want to muzzle ThinkProgress, an editorial independent journalistic company, and we believe that any political leader is wrong to demand it. . "
In an e-mail to reporters, CAP also cited an article written in 2008 by Sanders campaigner Faiz Shakir, who worked for ThinkProgress' think tank and editor-in-chief before heading to Capitol Hill. defends the independence of the site.
"From my experience of the last four years at CAPAF," wrote Shakir in 2008, "this editorial freedom has allowed ThinkProgress to be at the forefront of the latest news and analysis."
But in a response on Twitter a few minutes after the release of the PAC statement, Shakir said, "The writing and publication of this message (from 2008) was not" independent. "Happy to talk to all journalists wishing to discuss "editorial independence", if that is the debate they wish to have ".
Questions about the ThinkProgress editorial process are not new. A CAP official told CNN on Sunday that there was a firewall between the site and the think tank, but that it had been treated skeptically by outside critics.
"I regularly answer calls from people angry with CAP about something Think Progress wrote or posted," said the manager. "As in this case, I always remind them that CAP has no editorial control over Think Progress."
Former Sanders substitute, Jonathan Tasini, said in an email that the ThinkProgress clip was "heinous" and that he "initially thought it was a Republican attack video. pretending to be a democratic production ".
Tasini added that CAP had broken "the tacit agreement about unity among the presidential candidates who took care not to do anything to undermine efforts to defeat Trump".
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