Sanders bristles at reporters asking about his exit

Bernie Sanders' news conference got off to a rocky start Monday in Emeryville, California, a day before the Vermont senator looks to bring home a victory in the delegate-rich state and amplify his argument to superdelegates that he is a more electable candidate than Hillary Clinton.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me, ma'am," Sanders said, as an unidentified female reporter began to ask her question. "Other hands are up as well."


Sanders asked a male reporter if he would like to proceed with his question, though he deferred to the woman who had spoken first.

"What do you say to women who say that you staying in the race is sexist and standing in the way of what could be the first female president?" she asked.

Sanders visibly bristled at the question, responding, "Is that a serious question?"

"Your question implies that any woman, that any person, that any woman who is running for president is by definition the best candidate. So any woman who runs," Sanders said. "To say that it is sexist—So if Hillary Clinton runs for president, is your point that it is sexist for any man to oppose her?"

The reporter then mentioned that Clinton could clinch the Democratic nomination Tuesday, a notion that Sanders called "another point."

"I don't think it is sexist. I think the issue is, first of all, our focus right now is running and winning right here in California," Sanders said. "And the second point that I have made is that it is absolutely imperative that we defeat Donald Trump as president — as candidate as president of the United States. I believe I'm the strongest candidate."

Another reporter asked if Sanders' pledge to do everything he can to keep Trump from the presidency would include "trying to thwart Hillary Clinton from becoming president?"

"Trying to thwart Hillary Clinton from becoming president?" Sanders repeated incredulously. "The issue is who is the better candidate to become president of the United States and to defeat Trump. Right now, our focus is on winning the largest state in this country. Winning South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and New Mexico and doing the best we can in New Jersey. New Jersey is going to be a difficult state for us. But our goal is to get as many delegates as we possibly can and to make the case to superdelegates that I believe the evidence is very strong that I am the strongest candidate."

The next question: "At what point do you become a spoiler, though?"

Sanders responded that he would not engage in speculation, adding, "if I win tomorrow in California, if we do very well, and I don't know that we will, we may, doing well in other states, if there are superdelegates out there who say, you know what? Looking at the objective evidence of polling, looking at the objective evidence of who has the strongest grassroots campaign and can bring out the larger voter turnout, which I think is crucial for November, if some of the super delegates think it is Bernie Sanders, I think that that is not an insignificant thing."