Hillary Clinton today defended her daughter’s attacks against her Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care plan, despite criticism the remark was inaccurate.
“You know, I adore my daughter and I know what she was saying,” Clinton told “Good Morning America” about Chelsea Clinton. “Because if you look at Senator Sanders’ proposals going back nine times in the Congress, that’s exactly what he’s proposed. To take everything we currently know as health care, Medicare, Medicaid, the CHIP Program, private insurance, now of the Affordable Care Act, and roll it together.”
Chelsea Clinton Takes on Bernie Sanders Sanders Takes Slim Lead Over Clinton in Iowa Poll Sanders' Popularity Making Clinton Campaign 'Nervous'Chelsea Clinton Tuesday joined in on her mother’s jabs against Sanders, saying during a campaign event in New Hampshire that the Vermont senator wants to “dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare and private insurance.”
The Sanders campaign quickly responded by saying that Chelsea Clinton was “wrong.”
“A Medicare-for-all plan will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year,” a spokesman for Sanders’ campaign said. “The Clinton campaign is wrong.”
Later in the day, Democratic strategist David Axelrod criticized the Clinton campaign for having Chelsea Clinton take a shot at Sanders. “It wasn’t an honest attack,” he said during an interview on CNN.
On “Good Morning America” today, however, Clinton doubled down on her campaign’s critique of Sanders and called for the Vermont senator to lay out “specifics” of his health care plan.
The back-and-forth between the two Democratic candidates comes one day after a new Quinnipiac poll was released showing Sanders with a slight lead over Clinton in Iowa.
When asked whether her increased attacks on Sanders are because she is feeling nervous, Clinton laughed. “You know, I have a different rhythm about how a campaign goes,” she told co-anchor George Stephanopoulos.
“I want to win, but I have a very long view about this,” she explained, “I've been organizing in the states that come after -- South Carolina, Nevada – and in the states that come after that. I campaigned until June last time, as we all remember.”
Clinton also made clear she has no intentions of quitting the race for president, even if she wins the Powerball lottery.
"I did,” Clinton said when asked whether she bought a ticket.
“And if you win?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well,” she said, “I’ll fund my campaign.”