Sanders Softens Stance on Clinton, But Doesn't Recant; Sanders Campaign Rips General Electric in New Attack
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news: Bernie Sanders not backing down from his accusation that Clinton is unqualified for the presidency, but tonight admits to CBS News he may have gone too far.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're right. We should not get into this tit for tat. We should be debating the issues facing the American people.</s>BURNETT: Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz any time.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton taking the high road today. For a moment, at least, as the Democratic race devolves into a war of words.</s>CLINTON: Let's keep our eye on what is really at stake in this election.</s>ZELENY: At stake is the New York primary, which Bernie Sanders is fighting hard to win, firing off some of the most personal attacks yet of the campaign over who is qualified to be president.</s>SANDERS: The American people might wonder about your qualifications, Madam Secretary, when you voted for the war in Iraq.</s>ZELENY: In Philadelphia today, Sanders unleashed a laundry list of grievances.</s>SANDERS: Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?</s>ZELENY: Sanders said Clinton started by diminishing his qualifications. She said he did. It's a rough and tumble New York primary, raising questions about unifying the Democratic Party.</s>SANDERS: I ran a very contested campaign against then-Senator Obama, and it went all the way to the end. We worked really hard. He got more delegates. And so I endorsed him.</s>ZELENY: This map on the wall at Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn is a daily reminder of their lead in delegates. Sanders is vowing to take the fight to the convention, a move that doesn't sit well with Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.</s>ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The stakes are so high. Nobody wants -- nobody in our party wants to see Donald Trump or Ted Cruz become president. I think people will very quickly unify behind our nominee.</s>ZELENY (on camera): But it is different. I mean, she was a Democrat her entire life, and he's not been a Democrat. What incentive does he have to help unify this party?</s>MOOK: Well, that's up to Senator Sanders. He is going to have to make a decision about the role he wants to play.</s>ZELENY: Would it be a mistake for the party to keep litigating this into July into Philadelphia?</s>MOOK: Well, I think at the point it's obvious a candidate has a majority of delegates and will win the nomination at the convention. I do think it will be time to come together. But we're not there yet.</s>ZELENY: So, Erin, after a very aggressive day on the campaign trail, back and forth, this war of words, things are calming down at least a little bit. Bernie Sanders just a short time ago told CBS News that he should not be engaging in a tit for tat. He should be focusing on the issues of importance to the American people. So, both sides are sort of cooling their jets a bit tonight, Erin. But it all starts again tomorrow, another day on the campaign trail here in New York. We'll see how this unity goes with 12 days left before that New York primary.</s>BURNETT: All right. Jeff, thank you very much. And, of course, you know, saying he doesn't want to engage in tit for tat is not the same thing as saying I didn't mean it. I take it back. Joining me now, Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz, Jr., who supports Hillary Clinton. In fact, he accompanied her on campaign stop in the Bronx this morning. And Nomiki Konst, Democratic strategist and Bernie Sanders supporter. So, Nomi, let me start with you. Senator Sanders now saying, OK, I want to focus on other things, not a tit for tat. But he is standing by what he is saying. He didn't take it back. He has now said twice that Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president. His campaign manager said she is not qualified because of her foreign policy. He is actually specifically saying it led to the rise of ISIS. Has the campaign gone too far?</s>NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Absolutely not. This has been a campaign about issues from day one. And if Hillary Clinton is fear that this is a campaign that has gone too far, she should be concerned if she is the nominee going up against Donald Trump who talks about hand sizes on stage. I mean, Bernie Sanders has a core set of values. He has talked about them every single moment he can. He is on message. Now, that's not personal. That means when he talks about her record, he is talk about her record, because voters need to know. They're not going to trust the person who is propagating this information out of their campaign to give them that information. They need to see the difference between the two candidates. Now, Bernie Sanders talks about income inequality. He talks -- you know, one of the things that Hillary Clinton came out today is she attacked him on guns again, right? Well, nobody talks about how in 2000 Hillary Clinton didn't want universal background checks. Nobody talks about the fact that Hillary Clinton's gun record was so conservative in 2008 that Barack Obama called her Annie Oakley and she called him out of touch. Nobody discusses these things. They talk about one vote by Bernie Sanders.</s>BURNETT: Ruben?</s>RUBEN DIAZ, JR., HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: The reality is that it was Bernie Sanders who said that he was going to keep this campaign clean, and he has gone against that promise. And what he says today and what he said yesterday about Hillary not being qualified is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, Nomi,</s>BURNETT: Guns are separate. But this issue of right now the conversation and who is qualified, right?</s>KONST: Right.</s>BURNETT: He specifically said he is unqualified. She has not used that word but she essentially said --</s>DIAZ: She never said that she was unqualified.</s>BURNETT: Let me play the exchange on MSNBC of exactly what she said so people can hear for themselves. Here she is.</s>CLINTON: I think the interview raised a lot of really serious questions. And I look at it this way. The core of this campaign has been break up the banks. And it didn't seem in reading his answers that he understood exactly how that would work under Dodd/Frank, exactly who would be responsible, what the criteria were. And, you know, that means you can't really help people if you don't know how to do what you are campaigning on saying you want to do.</s>BURNETT: Ruben, she didn't use the word "unqualified." But isn't she making the same point?</s>DIAZ: No. She is talking about the fact that Bernie Sanders, whether as a presidential candidate or as a U.S. senator for the last 20 years has been talking about regulating banks and dealing with Wall Street. And then when he is asked on an editorial board, how would you solve this? So, it's one thing to talk, talk, talk and make promises that you can't commit to or that you don't know how to solve the problem. And then when they ask you, how would you resolve this? Hillary Clinton for so many years has been someone who's identified the problem and who has come up with solutions. And the same way that people in the Bronx said they felt her, know her, understand that because we've come so long, it's because she has helped identify those solutions. Bernie Sanders should have had the response in the editorial board and that's what she was speaking to.</s>KONST: That's actually not true. You know, this is a meeting that was 45 minutes long. It was so detailed so, much so that "The New York Times" came out with a fact check the next day saying that there were quotes taken out of context --</s>BURNETT: This is "The Daily News" report that you're referring to.</s>KONST: Exactly.</s>BURNETT: That Bernie Sanders has been widely criticized for.</s>KONST: Widely criticized for it, but the reality is most of the media, most of the people out there have not read it and don't understand economics policy. You know, he said that he has left to it the authority of legislators to legislate Dodd/Frank. You can't go into detail in legislation that hasn't been debated and hasn't been debated in 50 years. You know, she is the one who was against -- she was against Glass- Steagall. She was for repealing Glass-Steagall. And that's what led to the collapse of our economy. So, the record does not match the rhetoric for Hillary Clinton. That's the problem.</s>DIAZ: She never said he is unqualified, that he is unqualified. He is dividing the Democratic party. We have to keep our eyes on the prize and make sure that we're united as a party and beat the Republican in November.</s>KONST: One quick note of that. Brian Fallon was the one who issued the press release saying that we plan to disqualify him, defeat him and unite the party. So, they have started with that comment. It wasn't a press release to just their campaign, it was press release to the world.</s>DIAZ: We look forward to winning and uniting the party.</s>BURNETT: Like Clinton and Sanders, no one wants to give the other the last word. Thank you both. Clinton and Sanders will face off in New York a week from tonight right here on CNN. And next, GE CEO slamming Bernie Sanders, charging that he makes hollow campaign promises. But just moments ago, Sanders fires back. You're not going to believe what he just said. And Ted Cruz saying the Republican Party is uniting around his candidacy. Is it? I'll ask my next guest, a leading Republican who says he just can't stand that guy.