Clinton and Sanders Spar Over Proposed New York Debate

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders continued to spar on Saturday over discussions about scheduling a debate in New York next week, ahead of the state’s April 19 primary.

Clinton’s campaign accused Sanders’s camp of rejecting three possible dates for a debate and using the ongoing discussion to attack the former Secretary of State. Sanders’s campaign, in turn, accused Clinton of rejecting other dates they proposed, ABC News reported.

“Over the course of the last week, we have offered three specific dates for a debate in New York, all of which the Sanders campaign rejected,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in a Saturday statement, according to the network “The Sanders campaign needs to stop with the games.”

The talks began after the Sanders campaign called for another debate ahead of the contested New York primary, Politico reported this week. Clinton’s campaign offered to debate Sanders during the coming week on Monday night, Thursday night or Friday on “Good Morning America.”

“Unfortunately, the dates and venues she has proposed don’t make a whole lot of sense,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs shot back in a statement. “The idea that they want a debate in New York on a night of the NCAA finals—with Syracuse in the tournament no less—is ludicrous. We have proposed other dates which they have rejected. We hope we can reach agreement in the near future.”

Syracuse is one of the schools competing in the March Madness Final Four games on Saturday. The winners will advance to Monday’s championship game.

Fallon spoke out again against Sanders in a series of Tweets on Saturday, accusing the Vermont senator’s campaign of using the debate talks to “falsely attack Clinton to get headlines.”