In an upcoming documentary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton excoriates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), her top rival in the 2016 Democratic primary and one of the leading candidates in this year’s race.
Clinton will be the subject of a four-part Hulu series titled “Hillary” that is set to drop on March 6th. But it’s her comments on Sanders from the documentary and an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that are already causing a stir.
“He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him,” Clinton says in the documentary. “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”
Asked if that assessment of Sanders “still holds” by The Hollywood Reporter, Clinton responded unflinchingly: “Yes, it does.”
But she went even further. When asked if she’d endorse Sanders and campaign for him against President Donald Trump, should he win the nomination, Clinton wouldn’t commit.
“I’m not going to go there yet,” Clinton said. “We’re still in a very vigorous primary season. I will say, however, that it’s not only him, it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women.”
Clinton’s comments immediately caused a stir on social media.
Whoa. This from Hillary on Bernie is going to cause quite a stir https://t.co/WdmkyTpjRU pic.twitter.com/HPe0j2vJQj
— Sam Stein (@samstein) January 21, 2020
I have a lot of work to do today so I really can't get sucked into this right now, but Hillary Clinton might be the least self-aware person on Earthhttps://t.co/kYamBwESvR
— Natalie Shure (@nataliesurely) January 21, 2020
when she’s right, she’s right https://t.co/sfyKsojz01
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) January 21, 2020
Clinton’s comments will throw fresh gasoline on an already contentious relationship between Clinton and Sanders supporters. It’s also sure to complicate a Democratic primary that has become much more feisty in that last few days. Sanders recently apologized to former Vice President Joe Biden for an op-ed one of his surrogates wrote claiming Biden was corrupt.
Now, it appears Sanders is the one under fire, with an old rival speaking up to knock down his credibility and his record in the Senate. Sanders is yet to respond to the comments, as of publication.