Bernie Sanders Believes Bill Clinton Has Hit Below the Belt

"I felt that President Clinton said things that were just not accurate."

ByABC News
February 10, 2016, 6:17 PM

— -- Sen. Bernie Sanders believes Bill Clinton’s attacks on him have been inaccurate, he told ABC News today.

And when asked whether Clinton has hit below the belt, Sanders said, "I think so."

“Look, I know he’s going to be out there defending his wife; trust me, my wife will be out there defending me,” Sanders said.

Sanders also pointed out that he has defended Hillary Clinton “against some unfair attacks” in the past, “but I felt that President Clinton said things that were just not accurate and I hope we get" beyond that, he said.

But the Vermont independent said he will not change his tactics on stage as Thursday’s Democratic debate approaches.

“I hope we can debate the issues and how we propose to bring about the changes that America needs,” he said. “That’s the kind of debate I think American people would like to hear, not nasty.”

Sanders comments come after Bill Clinton attacked his supporters who he alleges aim sexist comments at Hillary Clinton supporters.

Sanders won the New Hampshire primary by 22 points Tuesday, the largest margin in the state since 1960 when John F. Kennedy won 85.2 percent of the vote.

Coming off the landmark win in the New Hampshire primary, Sanders is gearing up for the next big tests in the presidential race later this month: South Carolina and Nevada.

But if the elections were held tomorrow in those states, Sanders said, he would lose.

"No. Fortunately for us the election is not tomorrow," Sanders told ABC News' Cecilia Vega in the interview. "Fortunately for us, we have now ended the campaign in New Hampshire. We can now devote our resources to Nevada and South Carolina. And when Election Day comes there, I do think that we can win."

He went on to discuss his meeting with the Rev. Al Sharpton while in New York City today.

Sanders said the two discussed the needs of the African-American community, and while his rallies may lack diversity in the crowd, he said, he expressed confidence in “see[ing] more diversity.”

“I think what the polling is showing is that we are doing better and better with the African-American community and with the Latino community," Sanders said.

South Carolina is prominently African-American and, according to a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Jan. 28, Clinton had 74 percent of the black vote compared to Sanders’ 17 percent.

But Sanders says he confident his message will reach the black community.

“I think we are especially focusing now on a broken criminal justice system and the need for real police reform,” he said, “which I think will result in a lot of African-Americans and Latinos paying increased attention to our campaign."