Bill Clinton Mocks Berniecrats: ‘Shoot Every Third Person on Wall Street’

Bill Clinton took aim at Bernie Sanders supporters on Friday. “I think it’s fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent, and it sounds so good, just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine,” Clinton told NBC News, according to reporter Brad Jaffy. Clinton later said that “that’s a joke, it’s a total joke.”

Bernie Sanders hit back at Clinton on Friday, tweeting an earlier version of this article. “We should be encouraging young people to get involved in politics, not disparaging them. This seems to be a pattern,” Sanders tweeted.

Clinton has made headlines for a series of controversial campaign trail remarks in the past weeks. While stumping for his wife in Pennsylvania last week, Clinton defended his 1994 crime bill against from protesters who said the legislation disproportionately targeted black people. “You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter,” Clinton told the hecklers.

He later remarked that he “almost want[s] to apologize for” his remarks. Clinton’s controversial remarks have led to some speculation that the former president might be more hindrance than help for his wife’s own presidential bid. Democratic operatives told The Daily Beast that some of Clinton’s old charm appears to be wearing thin as his references grow dated.

“He’s a different person,” Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant who served as a Bill Clinton campaign aide in 1996 told The Daily Beast. “He’s thinner, he’s less jovial. He’s much more serious… the devilish look in his eyes, that great smile, it’s missing.”