Story highlights Bernie Sanders says his campaign 'will respond forcefully' to negative attacks from Hillary Clinton

Sanders repeated his criticism of Clinton's ties to Wall Street

Washington (CNN) Bernie Sanders says he's not sure what a senior strategist meant when he threatened to unload new attacks against Hillary Clinton, but he's prepared to "give back as strongly as we give" to any volleys from Clinton.

"If I am called a sexist, for example, or if other charges are made against me, we will respond forcefully," Sanders said in an interview Wednesday with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room."

It was a reference to Clinton's implicit suggestion that Sanders' use of the word "shouting" when criticizing strident supporters and opponents of gun control was meant as an attack on her gender.

Sanders' comments come the day after top adviser Tad Devine told Politico that "if they're going to have a campaign that attacks Bernie on gun safety, and implies he engages in sexism, that's unacceptable."

"We're not going to stand for that. We're not going to sit here and let her attack him. We're going to have to talk about other things if they do that," Devine said. "If they're going to engage in this kind of attack, they need to understand we're not going to stand there and take it."

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