NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton on Sunday downplayed the clash that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had with protesters who criticized his record on criminal justice at a campaign event last week and said if she was elected she would work to reduce unnecessary incarcerations.
Interrupted multiple times at a rally in Philadelphia, Bill Clinton vigorously defended his 1994 crime bill as an effort to protect African-Americans who were being threatened by gang violence. He at times shouted over the protesters, suggesting that they did not want to hear the truth.
He later offered a partial apology for talking over them when he was explaining his record.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Hillary Clinton said her husband had a “great legacy’’ but made clear she would like to improve upon his record on criminal justice reform.
“If we’re going to talk about his eight years as president, we should talk about everything, and he said last summer to the NAACP that a lot of good things happened to try to lower crime, save lives, and all of that,’’ she said. “But clearly some things happened that were not foreseen and need to be now addressed, and I think that’s good leadership.’’
Hillary Clinton recalled that during the 1990s there was a lot of fear about crime but added that there were consequences of some of the policies put into place at the time that now must be dealt with.
“One of the consequences, in my view, is overincarceration of people who should not have been in the criminal justice system,’’ she said. “They have an addiction problem, a mental health problem, they have committed a low-level offense, a nonviolent offense. So I want to divert people from the criminal justice system and from being incarcerated.’’
Despite the fact that Hillary Clinton sometimes has to answer for her husband’s policies and for his comments on the campaign trail, she insisted Sunday he is an asset to her campaign.
“He’s not only a former president, he’s my husband, and he does take defending and protecting me very seriously, and I appreciate that,’’ she said.
Also on Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont continued his squabble with Clinton on her qualifications to be president, saying “something is clearly lacking’’ in her judgment.
Sanders made the comments during a round of interviews on the Sunday talk shows on ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN during which he was asked whether he thought Clinton was qualified to be president.
Last week, Sanders said Clinton was unqualified for the position because she voted for the war in Iraq, has a super PAC that has raised millions of dollars from Wall Street, and supported trade agreements that sent US jobs overseas.
On Sunday, he continued to criticize Clinton’s ties to special interest groups and her stances on foreign policy.
“She may have the experience to be president of the United States. No one can argue that,’’ Sanders said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.’’ “But in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking.’’
During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that was filmed Friday in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sanders echoed those sentiments. “I have my doubts about what kind of president she would make,’’ he said.
Sanders also took aim at Clinton for saying that young people who link her to the fossil fuel industry “haven’t done their research.’’
“I think that’s a little bit condescending,’’ Sanders told Tapper. “These are young people who want to be involved in shaping the future of this country.’’
Sanders continued to discuss Clinton’s qualifications Sunday on “Meet the Press.’’
“When you have a super PAC that is raising tens of millions of dollars from every special interest out there, including 15 million [dollars] from Wall Street, the American people do not believe that that is the kind of president that we need to make the changes in America to protect the working families of this country,’’ Sanders said.
