Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders revealed Thursday morning that he believes President-elect Trump is a "very smart person" despite the differences between the two, pointing to his win in last week's election.

Sanders made the remark to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast when asked about Trump's potential Cabinet and Supreme Court nominations, which he declined to touch on specifically.

"Let me be clear — I happen to think that Donald Trump is a very smart person, and he would not have been elected president if he were not a very smart person," Sanders said. "I also have no doubt that he, in his way, loves this country. I would hope very much that given his background and given some of the, what I consider to be, terrible, terrible things that he has said on the campaign trail to minorities.

"I would hope that he understands he has an extraordinary opportunity, an unbelievable opportunity to say, 'I said ... terrible things. I apologize. I am not going to be a president leading a racist or a sexist or a homophobic or Islamophobic administration. I want to focus on the real issues facing the American people,' many of which he touched upon during his campaign."

The Vermont socialist was a fervent critic of Trump throughout the presidential campaign, having campaigned extensively for Hillary Clinton after the Democratic National Convention. Since last week's election, he announced that he is backing Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., to take over as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.