IOWA CITY, Iowa — Bernie Sanders is distancing himself from a campaign memo encouraging canvassers to dump on Elizabeth Warren.

“I just read about it. We have over 500 people on our campaign. People do certain things. I'm sure that in Elizabeth’s campaign, people do certain things as well," Sanders told reporters in Iowa City, Iowa, on Sunday.

The Vermont senator, 78, added, "But you have heard me for months. I have never said a negative word about Elizabeth Warren, who is a friend of mine. We have differences of issues, that's what the campaign is about. But no one is going to be attacking Elizabeth.”

He also called the flap "a media blow up."

In Marshalltown, Iowa, Warren responded to a talking points script obtained by Politico that revealed Sanders volunteers were encouraged to tell voters leaning toward Warren that she brings "no new bases into the Democratic Party," appealing only to "highly-educated, more affluent people who are going to show up and vote Democratic no matter what.”

“I was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me. Bernie knows me and has known me for a long time," the Massachusetts senator, 70, said. "I hope Bernie reconsiders and turns his campaign in a different direction.”

Sanders and Warren, operating under a non-aggression pact, frequently paired up to defend their liberal policies, such as "Medicare for all," from takedowns issued by more center-left rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.