Bernie Sanders Says If Elected President He Will Remove Wasserman Schultz As DNC Chair

While the animosity between the Bernie Sanders campaign and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been an ongoing issue throughout the entire Democratic primary season, now it’s gotten downright personal, as Sanders has declared point-blank to CNN that if he is elected president, Wasserman Schultz will be removed as the DNC chair.

Bernie Sanders’ supporters have been crying foul for months with many of Wasserman Schultz’s decisions, claiming that the former co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign is doing everything in her power to help Clinton win the Democratic Party nomination. While Sanders has fought back on specific issues in the past, this is the first time he has directly called out for her removal as head of the DNC.

Not only does Sanders claim he would remove Wasserman Schultz from her office as chair of the DNC, but he also came out and gave his endorsement to her election opponent, Tim Canova, running against Wasserman Schultz in Florida’s 23rd congressional district. In typical Sanders fashion, he did not mince words when asked by CNN who he favored in that contest.

“Well, clearly, I favor her opponent. His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Shultz’s. And let me also say this, in all due respect to the current chairperson, if elected President, she would not be reappointed to be chair of the DNC.”

Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, has also been calling out Wasserman Schultz regarding issues of fairness with the Democratic Party nomination process, singling her out from the organization itself in an interview with CNN. Weaver also took issue with the chair of the DNC criticizing its own candidate when she claimed Sanders didn’t do enough in response to claims by party officials at the Nevada convention that his supporters behaved inappropriately. Sanders’ supporters became angry and began shouting and booing after 64 Sanders’ delegates were shut out from voting in the state convention, party officials passed measures without proper votes, and Senator Barara Boxer made an incendiary speech supporting Clinton and taunting them. Weaver took exception at Wasserman Schultz’s criticism blaming Sanders and his supporters for the chaos that ensued.

“We can have a long conversation about Debbie Wasserman Schultz just about how she’s been throwing shade on the Sanders campaign from the very beginning. It’s not the DNC, by and large, people in the DNC have been good to us. Debbie Wasserman Schultz really is the exception.”

Wasserman Schultz denies any favoritism, despite having served as the co-chair for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential run, as well as many controversial moves in the Democratic primary, from trying to limit debates and minimizing voters’ exposure to the then little-known candidate, Bernie Sanders, to changing Democratic convention rules to favor Clinton in July and the use of superdelegates, which it looks like will ultimately decide the nominee.

With the clout of Sanders behind her Congressional opponent, Wasserman Schultz may be facing much bigger problems come August, because an endorsement from Sanders brings with it a windfall of campaign contributions. Sanders’ campaign sent out an email Sunday asking his supporters to split contributions between him and Canova, citing how both are opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but more importantly, that they both agree on getting big money out of politics, which is something the Sanders campaign has sharply criticized Wasserman Schultz for supporting.

“Splitting a contribution between Bernie 2016 and Tim Canova for Congress will help elect progressives up and down the ballot while sending an UNMISTAKABLE message about our political revolution’s commitment to electing candidates who share our values.”

This is not the first time the Sanders campaign has endorsed a particular candidate, but his camp is clearly going after their nemesis at the DNC in the hope of making a lasting impression, and perhaps a lasting change, in the organization that represents the Democratic Party establishment.

Sanders is not the only one calling for Debbie Wasserman Schultz to step down, as MSNBC‘s Mika Brzezinski sharply criticized her unfair treatment of the Sanders campaign and called on her to step down several times in the video segment below.

[Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for FORTUNE]