Ben Jealous, a former NAACP president, “got into it with” Center for American Progress President and Clinton campaign advisor Neera Tanden over Chicago Mayor and Clinton associate Rahm Emanuel.
In an email to John Podesta dated March 5, 2016 that appeared in a Wikileaks dump Thursday, Tanden writes:
“I got into it w Ben jealous last night and he was all obsessed w how Hillary hasn’t condemned Rahm. I’m sure you guys are all over this for the debate but just thought I’d send in that they may well go there for the debate. My rec is to separate big time.”
Around that period, DC, Virginia, and Maryland Black Lives Matter activists called for Emanuel’s resignation and for Hillary Clinton to stop “pimping black votes”
One week after Tanden sent the email, The Chicago Tribune reported that Clinton’s primary opponent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called on Clinton to reject Emanuel’s endorsement of her.
Emanuel was in hot water at the time with activists over a local police shooting and his decision to close around 50 predominantly minority schools in 2013.
“Hillary Clinton proudly lists Mayor Rahm Emanuel as one of her leading mayoral endorsers,” Sanders said at the news conference. “Based on his disastrous record as mayor of the city of Chicago, I do not want Mayor Emanuel’s endorsement if I win the Democratic nomination. That is not the kind of support I want. We want the endorsement of the people who are fighting for social and racial justice. We do not want the support of people who are indebted to Wall Street and the big money interests.”