'Your friends destroyed this economy': Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton rip into each other at CNN debate
The fireworks started with an exchange over the auto industry, which has an outsize presence in the local economy.
"I voted to save the auto industry," Clinton said at the CNN-hosted event. "He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry."
Sanders, a Vermont senator, then accused Clinton of allowing her "friends" on Wall Street to destroy the US economy.
"Well, if you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy," Sanders began.
Clinton starting speaking, but Sanders interjected.
"Excuse me, I'm talking," he told her.
"If you're going to talk, tell the whole story, Sen. Sanders," she shot back.
"Let me tell my story, you tell yours," Sanders replied.
He continued:
Your story is of voting for every disastrous trade agreement and voting for corporate America. Did I vote against the Wall Street bailout when billionaires on Wall Street destroyed this economy? They went to Congress and they said, "Oh please, we'll be good boys, bail us out." You know what I said? I said, "Let the billionaires themselves bail out Wall Street."
Sanders touted his record of "standing up to corporate America" and voting against trade agreements that would "destroy the middle class."
Sanders later criticized Clinton for her paid speeches at big Wall Street firms. Because Clinton was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per speech after she left the State Department in 2013, Sanders mused that she must have given "great" speeches to these companies.
"While we're on Wall Street, one of us has a super PAC," Sanders said. "One of us has raised $15 million from Wall Street for that super PAC. One of us has given speeches on Wall Street for hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Clinton also called Sanders a "single-issue" candidate who wasn't focused on the broad range of issues facing the US.