Bernie Sanders’ interview with the New York Daily News ahead of the state’s primary later this month didn’t go as planned.
The Vermont senator’s April 1 sit down with the paper’s editorial board, a transcript of which was published Monday afternoon, showed him having difficulty clearly answering some questions about both foreign and domestic policy, including the implementation of his much-touted plan to reform Wall Street.
Several times during the interview, Sanders expressed uncertainty over facts, said he couldn’t give a proper answer to a question because he didn’t have all the relevant information, or simply stated, “I don’t know.”
In one exchange, Sanders acknowledged that he wasn’t sure exactly how he intended to break up the big banks, a proposal that has been a centerpiece of his Wall Street reform agenda.
For some political observers, the senator’s difficulty in providing direct answers to some questions reinforced their belief that he lacks a concrete plan to implement his domestic agenda and is ill-prepared to handle the global challenges he would face as president.
“If Hillary [Clinton] gave answers like this to [an editorial] board, she would be crucified,” tweeted Mark Halperin, the Bloomberg television host and co-author of “Game Change.”
Sanders’ remarks drew an onslaught of criticism from the press: “Bernie Sanders Admits He Isn’t Sure How to Break Up Big Banks,” Vanity Fair’s headline read. “How Much Does Bernie Sanders Know About Policy?” asked The Atlantic. “This New York Daily News interview was pretty close to a disaster for Bernie Sanders,” The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote.
It wasn’t like Sanders was in enemy territory. The Daily News has been quite favorable to Sanders in the run up to the Empire State’s primary on April 19. The paper has yet to endorse in the Democratic primary.
When Sanders was asked, according to the transcript, if there are particular statues that allow the prosecution of Wall Street executives, he said: “I suspect that there are. Yes.”
Daily News: You believe that? But do you know?
“I believe that that is the case,” Sanders went on. “Do I have them in front of me, now, legal statutes? No, I don’t. But if I would…yeah, that’s what I believe, yes.”
On foreign affairs, the Daily News asked: “Expanding [Israeli] settlements is one thing; coming into office as a President who said as a baseline that you want Israel to pull back settlements, that changes the dynamic in the negotiations, and I’m wondering how far and what you want Israel to do in terms of pulling back.”
Sanders responded: “Well, again, you’re asking me a very fair question, and if I had some paper in front of me, I would give you a better answer.”
When Sanders was asked, aside from Guantanamo Bay, where would he hold and interrogate a “captured ISIS commander,” Sanders said:
“Actually I haven’t thought about it a whole lot. I suppose, somewhere near the locale where that person was captured. The best location where that individual would be safely secured in a way that we can get information out of him.”
The Sanders campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.