INTERVIEW — JAKE TAPPER – Anchor of The Lead and State of the Union on CNN

• Van Jones: I wish Priebus was DNC chair. Liberal commentator Van Jones on Wednesday said he’d prefer the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) to his own party’s chair after a “leadership failure” on the Democratic side. Jones knocked Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her response to Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Tuesday in light of the contentious Nevada Democratic convention. “Debbie, who should be the umpire, who should be the marriage counselor, is coming in harder for Hillary Clinton than she is for herself. That is malpractice,” Jones told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin Wednesday. “I wish Reince Priebus was my party chair. He did a better job of handling the Trump situation than I’ve see my party chair handle this situation,” Jones said. “I’m ashamed to say that. Yeah, I said it.”
• Sanders camp slams Debbie Wasserman Schultz for ‘throwing shade,’ Insults are being hurled inside the Democratic Party as part of the fallout from last Saturday’s Nevada convention. The latest controversy roiling the Democratic Party showed no signs of abating Wednesday, as Bernie Sanders’ campaign put the onus of the rift splitting Democrats on Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s failed leadership, accusing her of “throwing shade” on the Vermont senator from the beginning. The chaos that ensued Saturday in Nevada at its state convention over what some perceived as unfair delegate allocations erupted onto the national scene and has lingered beyond two additional Democratic primaries, exposing the Democratic Party to infighting as the Republican Party takes steps to unify behind its presumptive presidential nominee. Sanders’ campaign fired back at Wasserman Schultz on Wednesday morning after the Democratic National Committee chairwoman panned the campaign’s “anything but acceptable” response to reports of violence and threats from Sanders supporters at the Nevada Democratic convention over the weekend. Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, pointedly accused Wasserman Schultz of undermining the Sanders campaign from the get-go and called into question her leadership.
• Mitt Romney ends recruiting efforts for an independent candidate. (CNN) – Washington (CNN)Mitt Romney won’t launch a third-party presidential campaign of his own and has stopped trying to recruit somebody else to do it. The 2012 Republican nominee had attempted to recruit a challenger to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But prospects like Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said no, and Romney is now dropping his efforts, a source familiar with Romney’s thinking told CNN.