Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) told the co-hosts of ABC's "The View" on Wednesday that the FBI investigation into his wife "really stinks."
"Senator, your wife, Jane, is currently under investigation for bank fraud for a loan she took out while president of Burlington College in Vermont," co-host Sunny Hostin said. "Jane has been interviewed and she said, 'Listen, this is sexist. These are people trying to get at my husband through me.' Tell us what is really going on."
Sanders told Hostin that he was glad she asked him. He started going into detail about his wife's tenure at the college, and told her his wife became president of the college while it was going through financial and academic problems.
"Seven years later, that college was in better shape financially and academically than it had ever been, " Sanders said. "Five years after she left the school, five years, the vice chairman of the Republican Party in the state of Vermont and Donald Trump's campaign director initiated an investigation against my wife as president."
"It wasn't the bank that she did business with. It wasn't the entity that she bought the property. It was the vice chair of the Republican Party," Sanders added. "My wife is one of the most honest people I know. She worked extraordinarily hard at that college and did a great job."
Co-host Joy Behar attempted to chime in to make another point, but Sanders asked if he could make one more point.
"Let me just add this. It is a really sad state of affairs in American politics, where it is not enough to try to destroy public officials or candidates, you got to go after family members as well," Sanders said.
"That really stinks," the senator added.
Sanders appeared to be more collected in his response to Hostin's question about his wife's investigation compared to previous interviews in which he has dodged questions and appeared hostile to interviewers asking about the federal probe.