Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel Wednesday blamed the issues with the Iowa caucus return delays on the "ineptitude" of the Democratic National Committee and the state's Democratic Party, and called the matter "shameful."
"It was an abysmal failure," McDaniel told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "I feel so bad for the volunteers and caucusgoers. I know I'm a Republican, but I love the process. It is something special to be involved and not be able to get these results."
Tuesday afternoon, the Iowa Democratic Party began releasing partial results from the caucus following delays that prevented them from being released on Monday night. The early results show Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are ahead, with Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar trailing behind in the tally of State Delegate Equivalents.
The New York Times Tuesday placed part of the blame is being placed on the 2016 election after Sanders' 2016 campaign fought for an audit and accused the state party for a lack of transparency. After that, Democrats decided to release additional numbers in the 2020 race. McDaniel said the blame shows a pattern in the party to blame Sanders for everything.
"They are so afraid of him," said McDaniel. "That's why The New York Times is blaming him. His volunteers and candidate were penalized. I don't think they made it too difficult. It doesn't sound that hard to me."
Meanwhile, with the Republican caucus, the Iowa party chair "was great," she said. "We sent 50 staff on the ground (because) we wanted to make sure they went smoothly...the president won 97% of the vote, which is incredibly high."
Further, the Republican turnout marked the highest that any incumbent has had in the Iowa caucuses, but the Democrats had a low turnout, said McDaniel.
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