Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) said Sunday that Democratic superdelegates will be bearing the latest developments in Hillary Clinton's private email scandal in mind as the summer progresses.
A blistering report from the State Department Inspector General this week slammed Clinton's use of the home-brewed server as secretary of state and directly contradicted her frequent claims that it was permitted and did not endanger national security.
Although Sanders memorably said at the first Democratic debate last fall that the American people are "sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails," the saga of Clinton's server continues to keep her honesty numbers low.
Face The Nation host John Dickerson asked Sanders whether he still felt that way now that an official body had come down on Clinton for her conduct. Sanders is badly behind with superdelegates as he tries to derail Clinton's almost-certain Democratic nomination bid.
"Frankly, what I think is that people in the Democratic process want a real debate about the real issues," he said, after laying out his platform. "Now, you're right. The Inspector General just came out with a report. It was not a good report for Secretary Clinton. That is something that the American people, Democrats and delegates are going to have to take a hard look at."
He repeated he wanted to focus on his platform of elevating the middle class and guaranteeing health care to all Americans, but Dickerson wondered if Sanders would use Clinton's email woes in his pitch to superdelegates, perhaps out of fear that Donald Trump could use it against her in a general election.
"They will be keeping it in mind," Sanders said. "I don't have to tell them that. I mean, everybody in America is keeping it in mind, and certainly the superdelegates are."
Sanders said the job of superdelegates was to ensure Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, was defeated in November. He touted his consistent victories over Trump in hypothetical matchups.
Clinton and Trump, meanwhile, are historically unpopular candidates and are polling neck-and-neck.