Dana Bash on Haley Stevens: We’ve Seen Drama Before, But I Don’t Remember Anything Quite Like This

EXCERPT:

BASH: “This has been a drama filled behind the scenes, all Democrats effort, except for one, and that’s Abdul El-Sayed, which I’ll get to in a second, to try to keep Haley Stevens in the fold. She came on the ‘State of the Union’ panel a week ago yesterday and was very clearly not thrilled with Abdul El-Sayed, didn’t pull her endorsement, obviously, but was very clearly not thrilled trying to send a message that for on a number of issues that she wanted him to do, not just for her support, but she was saying for the support of a lot of the people in the community that she represents. Again, she went on CNN with Kaitlan Collins and the Democratic Party in Michigan. I can tell you they were freaking out. They were worried that she was going to do what she ended up doing yesterday. And she didn’t after a lot of phone calls to her, learning that she was going to go on TV again. And then fast forward to what happened over the weekend. And she didn’t answer Anderson’s question directly, but Anderson really got to the heart of the final straw, it seems from my reporting, which is that once Abdul El-Sayed said, you’re not welcome at this event that he was doing with James Clyburn, it was Clyburn’s event. That was, it seems as though the final straw. The issue is where we are on the calendar. I mean, there are a lot of issues, but it’s also where we are. It is so close to Election Day. And this — what are we talking about? We’re talking about this and not other things because it is such a monumental, huge story. And so there’s been so much back and forth behind the scenes. And the frustration that she has had and other Democrats have had is that she — Haley Stevens wanted something, which is for Abdul El-Sayed to reach out to her and to denounce a couple of things that she made clear in a statement. And El-Sayed thinks he did as much as he needed to do, but certainly didn’t reach back. And that’s why we are where we are. It is ugly. I mean, I don’t know — I was trying to think, Kate, if there’s anything that comes close to this.”