Hillary Clinton referenced 9/11 in her defense of Wall Street relationships during Saturday night's Democratic debate. Clinton under fire for linking her Wall Street donations to 9/11

Minutes after Hillary Clinton referenced 9/11 as part of the reason why she has received significant contributions from Wall Street, people on both sides of the aisle pounced or were, at the very least, left scratching their heads to account for it.

"So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is," Clinton said, in response to a comment from Bernie Sanders about her acceptance of campaign cash from Wall Street executives. "I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called it a "new low" for Clinton, saying in a statement that she "shamefully hid behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks in a bizarre attempt to deflect attention from her ties to her wealthy donors."

Lis Smith, Martin O'Malley's deputy campaign manager, slammed Clinton for invoking the attacks in explaining her answer as well.

My dad worked in WTC from the day it was built to the day it went down. @HillaryClinton, never invoke 9/11 to justify your Wall St positions — Lis Smith (@Lis_Smith) November 15, 2015

Meanwhile, David Axelrod pondered aloud on Twitter whether her equivalence of Wall Street support as a means of post-9/11 recovery would work.

.@HillaryClinton vehemently offers support for Wall Street as post-911 recovery effort. Does that fly? — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 15, 2015

During the debate itself, panelist Nancy Cordes displayed a tweet from someone who appeared displeased with the remark.

Have never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations. Until now. @HillaryClinton #DemDebate — Andy Grewal (@AndyGrewal) November 15, 2015

"Well, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild," Clinton responded. "So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate.

The take against the backlash from one Clinton confidant: And?

"There wasn’t any there there," Clinton confidant Paul Begala said on CNN after the debate. "In other words, Senator Sanders needs to close the loop. OK? He says you’ve got donations, he can’t—doesn’t even point to a vote. He doesn’t say, here’s something you did wrong."

During the 2008 campaign, Begala noted, Barack Obama succeeded in pointing out Clinton's 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq War.

"Senator Sanders doesn’t have the punch after the set-up. He’s like, ‘Well you took Wall Street money.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, well, what did I do?'" Begala continued. "So he’s got to have something there from the left. He can’t just say, ‘Oh, Wall Street’s bad, and you represented New York, therefore,’ well, what?”