Clinton, Sanders trade barbs in first face-off

Washington, February 5

Hillary Clinton has accused her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders of an “artful smear” by suggesting she could be bought by political donations as the two had a heated exchange during their first one-on-one presidential debate.

Aiming to score a point five days before the New Hampshire primary, the former Secretary of State questioned whether the Vermont Senator’s proposals were viable.

Sanders, 74, said Clinton cannot claim to be both a moderate and a progressive, criticising her for raising $15 million from Wall Street.

Trailing massively behind Sanders in the latest opinion polls of New Hampshire primary, Clinton, 68, accused Sanders of a “very artful” smear.

Clinton said: “Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I’ve tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be.”

“And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don’t think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. If you’ve got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received,” Clinton said responding to Sanders allegations against her.

Sanders said: “What being part of the establishment is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one’s life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests...The degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about changes that are needed. — PTI