Story highlights Benenson wouldn't say the campaign was outright refusing a New York debate

Clinton is far ahead in the delegate race and is the favorite in national polling

Washington (CNN) Hillary Clinton's top strategist said Monday her campaign isn't willing to entertain a new debate in New York next month -- yet.

Joel Benenson repeatedly dodged questions from CNN's Kate Bolduan on "At This Hour" regarding Bernie Sanders' call for scheduling a debate just ahead of the New York primary April 19th and he tried to turn the pressure back on Sanders.

"She's done well in the debates. The debates have been very good," Benenson said. "But Sen. Sanders doesn't get to decide when we debate, particularly when he's running a negative campaign against us. Let's see if he goes back to the kind of tone he said he was going to set early on. If he does that, then we'll talk about debates."

In response to Benenson's remarks, Sanders' backers launched the #ToneDownForWhat hashtag on Twitter to make the displeasure known.

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