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2016 The Choice: Former Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver on the outcome of the final presidential debate

By Alex Bregman

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, joined Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga on “2016: The Choice” to talk about the final presidential debate and give his take on what’s been revealed in some of the hacked emails, leaked by WikiLeaks, from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.

On Donald Trump refusing to say whether he’ll accept the results of the election, Weaver said, “It’s a central tenet of our democracy that we have a peaceful transfer of power, that we have an election. They’re hard-fought. Believe me, I was just involved in a very hard-fought contest between Bernie Sanders and Secretary Clinton.”

He continued, “If Donald Trump loses now and the Republicans lose this time, they’ll have their opportunity at the presidency in four years. That’s just the way our democratic process works and to repudiate that is a really dangerous precedent.”

On Trump being seemingly out of step with others in his campaign, including his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence, on accepting the election results, Weaver said, “This type of disconnect between the candidate and basically everyone around the candidate is a very, very unusual circumstance. As you know, the Trump campaign has gone through quite a few transitions in leadership in terms of staff. It’s just really, from a campaign organizational standpoint, it really seems like a horror show over there.”

On Trump using Sanders’ comments about Clinton’s “bad judgment” as his own talking point against Clinton in the debate and throughout the general election, Weaver said, “Well, Donald Trump can make whatever he wants a talking point. The truth of the matter is that we are in the general election, and one of two candidates is going to be president after this election. It’s either going to be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and given that comparison, there’s no doubt that Secretary Clinton is heads and shoulders above Donald Trump in terms of being an intelligent, capable leader who can move the country forward.”

On what the contents of the leaked WikiLeaks emails from the Clinton campaign reveal about the Democratic presidential candidate’s relationship with Wall Street and her position on trade, Weaver said, “Well, certainly I think they speak for themselves. Certainly in a purely political sense, we wish, obviously, we had the emails earlier in the process, but again, you know, we’re not going to relitigate it.”

Weaver did acknowledge, however, the dangers of the Russian government being involved in hacking these emails. He said, “This is a very dangerous situation where you have a foreign intelligence service which is hacking into the emails of not only political campaigns, but into political parties in this country.” He continued, “I hope that the U.S. takes strong action to make sure that not just campaigns and party committees, but also individuals are protected from hacking by foreign intelligence services.”

On whether he would have used the emails during the primaries knowing they were from the Russians, Weaver said, “You’re talking about a hypothetical, obviously, and this information, had it been available in the primary, I’m not exactly sure how we quote-unquote would’ve used it. I think that those who suggest that it would’ve been more relevant to the primary are probably correct as a matter of academics, but that’s really, you know, for the history books at this point and for speculation.”

Finally, on whether he thinks Clinton can accomplish some of the policies that she has adopted from Sanders if she wins the presidency, Weaver said, “It’s going to be a difficult environment obviously. Hopefully the Democrats will take back the Senate. … It’s not clear that the Democrats are going to be able to take the House, but hopefully they’ll be able to narrow the margin in the House.” He continued, “With Hillary Clinton … it looks increasingly like a big electoral victory, but hopefully that can create the kind of political momentum that we need to move some of these items forward.”

Yahoo News Now Special Edition: “2016 The Choice” — Every weekday until the election, we’ll be coming to you live from the Yahoo Studios in New York City, bringing the latest information and analysis of the day’s most compelling storylines in the race for the White House.