--- title: Democratic Debate: Clinton Hits Back on 'Unqualified' Charge description: Sanders walked back his "unqualified" comment, but Clinton struck back, invoking an interview Sanders gave to the New York Daily News. canonical: https://time.com/4295428/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-unqualified/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-15T01:33:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:46:28.925Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democratic Debate: Clinton Hits Back on 'Unqualified' Charge og:description: Sanders walked back his "unqualified" comment, but Clinton struck back, invoking an interview Sanders gave to the New York Daily News. og:url: https://time.com/4295428/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-unqualified/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54835b304aca1dd0/69888f3ca988ca2de06b76d7/democratic_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democratic Debate: Clinton Hits Back on 'Unqualified' Charge twitter:description: Sanders walked back his "unqualified" comment, but Clinton struck back, invoking an interview Sanders gave to the New York Daily News. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54835b304aca1dd0/69888f3ca988ca2de06b76d7/democratic_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Clinton Hits Back on Sanders Calling Her 'Unqualified'  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 15, 2016 1:33 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right, and Hillary Clinton participate in the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, April 14, 2016. Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right, and Hillary Clinton participate in the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, April 14, 2016.Frank Franklin II—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 15, 2016 1:33 AM UTC Tensions have been escalating between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in recent weeks, and as soon as Thursday night’s “[Brooklyn brawl](http://time.com/4295376/cnn-debate-clinton-sanders/?xid=homepage)” debate began, it lived up to its nickname. The opening question posed to Vermont Sen. Sanders asked him about his recent comment that Clinton is “[unqualified](http://time.com/4284934/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-qualified-new-york-primary/?iid=sr-link2)” to be president, and Sanders continued his criticism of the former Secretary of State. “I’ve known Secretary Clinton how long, 25 years?” Sanders began. “We worked together in the Senate, and I said that in response to the kind of attacks we were getting from the Clinton campaign… Does Secretary Clinton have the experience and intelligence to be a president? Of course she does.” As the crowd cheered, he clarified, “But I do question her judgment.” Even though Sanders walked back his “unqualified” comment, Clinton struck back, invoking a stumbling interview Sanders recently gave to the New York _Daily News_. “Well, it is true now that the spotlight is pretty bright here in New York, some things have been said, and Senator Sanders did call me unqualified,” said Clinton. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, that was a first.” “We have disagreements on policy, there’s no doubt about it,” she continued. “But if you go and read, which I hope you will before Tuesday, Senator Sanders’ long [interview with the New York ](http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/transcript-bernie-sanders-meets-news-editorial-board-article-1.2588306)[_Daily News_](http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/transcript-bernie-sanders-meets-news-editorial-board-article-1.2588306)_,_ talk about judgment and talk about the kinds of problems he had answering questions about even his core issue: breaking up the banks.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4295428/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-unqualified/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4295428/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-unqualified/"},"headline":"Clinton Hits Back on Sanders Calling Her 'Unqualified'","datePublished":"2016-04-15T01:33:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:46:28.925Z","description":"\"I've been called a lot of things in my life, that was a first\"","url":"https://time.com/4295428/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-unqualified/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Bernie Sanders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54835b304aca1dd0/69888f3ca988ca2de06b76d7/democratic_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54835b304aca1dd0/69888f3ca988ca2de06b76d7/democratic_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders","caption":"TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders","creditText":"Frank Franklin II—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4295428/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-unqualified/","name":"Clinton Hits Back on Sanders Calling Her 'Unqualified'"}}]}] ```