“Well, what I now know is that after we have won six out of the last seven caucuses and primaries and in national polls — couple of them — we are now in the lead, the Clinton campaign has changed its tone,” he said. “And I think they were pretty public about it. And that is when we come here to New York, they’re going to be a lot more negative. And that’s what you’re seeing from their surrogates and from the tone of their campaign.”

Guthrie asked Sanders if he overreacted to what Clinton said.

“Here’s the truth: I’ve know Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I respect Hillary Clinton. We were colleagues in the Senate,” he responded. “And on her worst day, she would be an infinitely better president than either of the Republican candidates.”

“She’s qualified?” Guthrie asked.

“Of course,” Sanders replied.