Sanders apologizes for data breach

by Lisa Hagen - 12/19/15 8:50 PM ET

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) apologized to Hillary Clinton and his supporters for the Democratic National Committee data breach that surfaced this week, but reiterated that the DNC’s response to bar his White House campaign from the party’s voter file was an “egregious act.”

Sanders addressed the breach at Saturday night’s Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire hosted by ABC, calling for an “independent, internal investigation.”

“I want to apologize to my supporters,” he said. “This is not the type of campaign that I run.”

Clinton accepted Sanders’s apology, “I very much appreciate that comment. It is important that we go forward on this.”

“Now that I think we’ve resolved your data and agreed on an independent inquiry, we can move on, because I don’t think the American people are all that interested in this,” the former secretary of State continued to applause.

{mosads}The exchange comes one day after the DNC suspended the Sanders campaign from accessing vital data after a campaign staffer improperly accessed private data that belonged to the Clinton campaign.

The Sanders campaign fired the staffer, but claimed that the breach was a mistake and blamed DNC-hired vendor for the glitch.

The campaign later on Friday sued the DNC in federal court, but the DNC and Sanders campaign reached an overnight deal to restore access to voter data.

Sanders during the debate said that he will continue to investigate — and fire — any other staffers that may have also viewed the Clinton campaign’s private data.

Tags Bernie Sanders Democratic debate Hillary Clinton