In a contentious interview with Bernie Sanders during her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Wednesday, host Andrea Mitchell hammered the Democratic candidate for continuing to challenge frontrunner Hillary Clinton: “But isn't the bottom line...that she is now fighting a war on two fronts? She’s getting beaten up by Donald Trump on a daily basis....he has been embracing you, he is building you up. He likes the fact that you’re taking her down.”
Sanders interrupted her: “One second, one second. Andrea – no, I don't accept – I don’t except that proposition. Last I heard, Hillary Clinton is running for President of the United States. I am running for President of the United States. Trump is running for President of the United States. And what a candidate does is make his or her best case to the American people.”
Mitchell fretted: “I’m just saying that Hillary Clinton’s – the opposition to her, the negatives against her have been built up by Donald Trump just hammering away at her and, up until now at least, he has not been going after you as much. She’s fighting two big candidates and you’re fighting one.”
Sanders blasted her: “Andrea, Andrea – oh, really? Really? Andrea, in every state that we have won, in 19 states, we have had to take on the entire Democratic establishment....So please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems. I'm in this race to win.”
In response, Mitchell sniffed: “Well, I don't think I was moaning about Hillary Clinton's problems...”
She then claimed that Sanders’ criticism of Clinton was giving Trump “the weapons against her” in the campaign.
Here is a transcript of the May 11 exchange:
12:06 PM ET
(...)
ANDREA MITCHELL: But isn't the bottom line about you versus Hillary Clinton and who would be the stronger candidate that she is now fighting a war on two fronts? She’s getting beaten up by Donald Trump on a daily basis. Aside from him calling you “crazy Bernie” in his tweet, he has been embracing you, he is building you up. He likes the fact that you’re taking her down. So she's fighting Donald Trump, she’s fighting Bernie Sanders. And that’s depressing her overall –
BERNIE SANDERS: One second, one second. Andrea – no, I don't accept – I don’t except that proposition. Last I heard, Hillary Clinton is running for President of the United States. I am running for President of the United States. Trump is running for President of the United States. And what a candidate does is make his or her best case to the American people. I have gotten attacked and attacked and attacked. My record has been misinterpreted and lied about. The issue of this campaign is to go out to the American people and talk about why the American people are working – are struggling. Hillary Clinton has got to make that case, Trump has got to make that case, Sanders has got to make that case. And that's what we intend to do. And I know –
MITCHELL: I’m just saying that –
SANDER: Yeah, I’m sorry.
MITCHELL: I’m just saying that – Sir, I’m just saying that Hillary Clinton’s – the opposition to her, the negatives against her have been built up by Donald Trump just hammering away at her and, up until now at least, he has not been going after you as much. She’s fighting two big candidates and you’re fighting one.
SANDERS: Andrea, Andrea – oh, really? Really? Andrea, in every state that we have won, in 19 states, we have had to take on the entire Democratic establishment. We've had to take on senators and governors and mayors and members of Congress. That’s what we have taken on. So please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems. I'm in this race to win. We're taking on the Democratic establishment, we are standing up for working people, and we have a shot. It is a steep hill to climb, but we're going to fight for every last vote that we can get, every delegate that we can get. And that’s what I intend to do in the next month, five weeks.
MITCHELL: Well, I don't think I was moaning about Hillary Clinton's problems, but just to point out, let me play a little bit of Donald Trump on Morning Joe and ask you to react.
DONALD TRUMP: Well, Bernie Sanders has a message that's interesting. I'm going to be taking a lot of the things that Bernie said and using them. He said some things about her that are actually surprising, you know, that essentially she has no right to even be running and that she’s got bad judgment. When he said “bad judgment,” I said, “sound bite.”
MITCHELL: So if you do –
SANDERS: Well, if Donald Trump –
MITCHELL: I’m just saying, if you do lose are you giving him the weapons against her?SANDERS: Well, if Donald Trump wants to take my ideas and fight for a single-payer health care program, wants to fight to make sure that the wealthiest people in this country like Donald Trump start paying their fair share of taxes, wants to make sure that we have paid family and medical leave, raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, if that's what Donald Trump is supporting, I think that's a good thing, and I hope Hillary Clinton does that as well. But, frankly, of course, that is not what Trump will be saying.
The point is, when you run for President the United States you’ve got to make your case to the American people. And in fact, as you well know, there are many areas that I could have attacked Hillary Clinton on that I have chosen not to attack her on. What I have done is run an issue-oriented campaign, that is what the American people want. And by the way, when you have a real debate about real issues, when you get more and more people involved in the political process, it results in a higher voter turnout. Democrats will win in November, whether it's Clinton or myself as the candidate, when there is a high voter turnout. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout. I think a vigorous debate, an honest debate about the real issues facing the American people, will result in a higher voter turnout, which is good for Democrats.
(...)
