Hillary Clinton came to Thursday's Democratic debate armed with the Daily News to take on rival Bernie Sanders over his positions on Wall Street and guns.
The highly contentious and spirited debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard turned into an old-fashioned donnybrook with each candidate going after the other aggressively as they jockeyed for positioning just days before the state's April 19 primary.
Time and time again, Clinton used Sanders' own words against him, repeatedly pointing to the transcript of his April 1 interview with the New York Daily News editorial board as evidence that he simply wasn't prepared to lead the country, carry out his campaign's central promises, and take on the gun lobby in the U.S.
"He voted for the most important NRA priority," Clinton said, referring to Sanders' 2005 vote in Congress in support of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which protects gun manufactures from most lawsuits stemming from illegal use of their products.
"Then he doubled down on that in the New York Daily News interview," she continued, pointing to the transcript of the Vermont senator's sit-down with "New York's Hometown Newspaper.”
“When asked whether he would support the Sandy Hook parents suing to try to do something to rein in the advertising of the AR-15, which is advertised to young people as being a combat weapon, killing on the battlefield. He said they didn't deserve their day in court” — a reference to efforts by the families of the 2012 Newtown, Conn., shooting to sue the manufacturer of the weapon used in the massacre.
Once the debate got started, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders wasted little time to start pouncing on one another.
"I could not disagree more, this is the only industry in America … that has this kind of special protection. We hear a lot from Senator Sanders about the greed and recklessness of Wall Street, but what about the greed and recklessness of gun manufacturers and dealers in America," she added in a response punctuated by loud cheering.
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"The law that Senator Sanders voted for and that I voted against," Clinton said, pointing to her vote as a U.S. senator from New York, "is an absolute abdication of responsibility on the part of those who voted for it."
When asked by CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer whether he owed the Sandy Hook families an apology, Sanders gruffly responded in the negative.
“No, I don't think I owe them an apology,” he said, prompting some booing, and another Clinton retort.
"This is a unique gift given to only one industry in the world ... by the U.S. Congress," she said.