Mar 8, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Hillary Clinton: Bernie Sanders is the weaker candidate against Trump

Jacob Knutson

Hillary Clinton on CNN's GPS — Screenshot: CNN's "GPS"

Hillary Clinton said Sunday on CNN's "GPS" that she will not endorse a candidate for president, but that she does not believe Bernie Sanders is "our strongest nominee against Donald Trump."

Why it matters: Clinton would not say whether she would campaign for Sanders if he wins the nomination, saying, "I don't know if he would ask me to campaign for him, because I have no idea what he is thinking about for a general election campaign." However, she stipulated that she would "support" whoever wins the nomination.

Watch:

What she's saying:

"As I've said many times, I do not think he's our strongest nominee against Donald Trump."

"I think what [Joe Biden's] victories on Super Tuesday showed is that he is building the kind of coalition that I have, basically. It's a broad-based coalition. ... I think Joe is on track to ... putting together a coalition of voters who are energized."

"Clearly, the Trump campaign, and Trump himself, know who they don't want to run against and know who they do want to run against."

— Hillary Clinton

The big picture: Clinton said she hopes Sanders is more "cooperative" in unifying the Democratic Party in this primary than he was in 2016. She said she thinks "his failure and the behavior of a lot of his top aides and certainly many of his supporters" were "not helpful."

"I can only hope that they understand we all have to have a singular goal of defeating Donald Trump," she said.

Go deeper: Sanders says he'd drop out if Biden has plurality at Democratic convention

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Hillary Clinton: Bernie Sanders is the weaker candidate against Trump

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