Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz attempted on Wednesday to beat back the controversy arising from a late and seemingly divisive change to the party platform.
In an interview with CNN, Wasserman Schultz maintained that the motion to reinsert support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and a reference to "God" was "absolutely" passed by a "two-thirds" vote. She then went on to characterize it as a technical correction that the language hadn't been added in an earlier draft approved by delegates on Tuesday, and said the apparent discord "was no fight at all."
Earlier in the evening, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, chairman of the Democratic National Convention, took to the podium to bring forth the motion to amend the platform in a voice vote. After three attempts in which the opposition protested at least as loudly as the proponents, Villaraigosa deemed it passed.
HuffPost's Jon Ward and Joshua Hersh reported that President Barack Obama had personally intervened to strengthen the language. A senior Obama administration official later confirmed the president's involvement, and in her interview Wasserman Schultz said that the move was an effort by the president to make sure platform reflected his "personal view" on the issues.
CNN anchors weren't buying Wasserman Schultz's explanation that the revision was simply a "technical change."
"That's an alternate reality," CNN's Anderson Cooper said. "From a reality standpoint ... to say flat-out, there was no discord, is just not true."
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