Watch: Sanders Staunchly Refuses to Criticize Warren

BETHLEHEM, PA - APRIL 15: Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-V
Mark Makela/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) staunchly refused to criticize his ideological ally Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during an interview with Vice News Wednesday, telling the outlet it, “is not the way you necessarily win a campaign.”

Sanders – who shares many ideological similarities to Warren – simply ignored the temptation to tackle her views.

“Why should someone vote for you over her?” Vice DC correspondent Elizabeth Landers asked the Vermont senator.

Sanders refused to take the bait.

“Well, that’s a decision that someone’s going to have to make,” Sanders said.

There was only one thing that Sanders was willing to point out, and that is the length of time he has been “fighting these fights.”

“I would suggest in my defense that I’ve been doing this for, as you indicated a few moments ago —check me out, and people may find me a little bit boring and repetitious — but I have been fighting these fights for about 30 years,” he said.

“I stand with the working class throughout my life. I’ve taken on Wall Street, the insurance companies, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry,” he continued.

“She’s done a lot of that too,” Landers said.

While Sanders acknowledged that, he reminded Landers that Warren is his friend who he has known for “over 20 years.”

“So you won’t directly criticize her policies?” Landers asked.

Sanders would not budge.

“Elizabeth, that’s not what I do,” Sanders said. “There will be a time and a place obviously that will…” he said, before Landers jumped in and asked, “When is that?”

“That’s a media question,” Sanders said. “What people want to know is what I stand for and people can make that decision.”

He ultimately argued criticizing and comparing himself to Warren is, “is not the way you necessarily win a campaign.”

“The way you win a campaign is to let people know what you stand for, what I stand for,” he stated.

Both Sanders and Warren will face off at the next Democrat debate in Houston, Texas, September 12. They will be joined by long-time frontrunner Joe Biden (D), who has yet to appear on a debate stage with both of his fiercest competitors simultaneously.

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