Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Sunday that a condemnatory watchdog report concerning Hillary Clinton's use of a private server would be on the minds of superdelegates and the American people in the run-up to the Democratic convention.

"The inspector general just came out with a report, it was not a good report for Secretary Clinton," Sanders said on CBS's Face the Nation, referring to a report released last week by the State Department inspector general. "That is something that the American people, Democrats and delegates are going to have to take a hard look at."

While the Vermont senator underscored that he would focus on "the issues facing the American people" rather than the Clinton email scandal, he said that the former secretary of state's email woes would be on everyone's mind.

"[Superdelegates] will be keeping it in mind. I don't have to tell them that. I mean, everybody in America is keeping it in mind, and certainly the superdelegates are," Sanders said.

An audit released last week by the State Department inspector general found that Clinton broke federal records and cybersecurity rules with her private server. The report also found that information security officials were not aware of the "scope or extent" of Clinton's server, and that the former secretary of state did not ask for legal guidance or approval for her setup, despite being obligated to.