Hillary Clinton. CNN Hillary Clinton attempted to navigate a tense situation at Thursday night's Democratic debate when she was confronted over her refusal to release Wall Street speech transcripts.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, her Democratic primary rival, has repeatedly attacked Clinton's speeches for some financial institutions. And on Thursday, CNN's moderators confronted her with a persistent line of questioning on the issue.

"If there's nothing in those speeches that will change voters' minds, why not just release the transcripts and put these speeches to bed?" CNN moderator Dana Bash said, as members in the Brooklyn audience cheered.

As Clinton attempted to respond, the audience booed.

"If everybody agrees to do it — there are other speeches from money on the other side, I understand that," Clinton said.

She also attempted to hit back at Sanders by calling on him to release past years' tax returns. Sanders said he would be releasing his 2014 returns on Friday.

Sanders had mocked Clinton earlier in the fesity debate for saying that she called out Wall Street while serving as senator.

"Secretary Clinton called them out. They must've been really crushed by this. Was that before or after you received huge sums of money after by giving speaking engagements behind closed doors? They've must've been very upset," he said.

For its part, the crowd was rowdy all night and eager to express its collective opinion on various exchanges.

After Sanders charged earlier that Clinton would be beholden to super PACs supporting her campaign, for example, Clinton attempted to refute the senator's accusation but was cut off by the audience's apparent groans.

"This isn't just an attack on me, it's an attack on President Obama. You may not like it, but I'll tell you why," Clinton said.

Watch part of the exchange below: