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Sanders reverses: ‘Of course’ Clinton is qualified

Bernie Sanders reversed himself Friday, tempering his vicious two-day attack line that Hillary Clinton is not "qualified" for the presidency.

“Of course” the former secretary of state is qualified for the White House, Sanders said during a town hall on NBC’s “Today.”

“On her worst day she would be an infinitely better president than either of the Republican candidates,” he said, heaping praise on his opponent in a similar fashion to what Clinton said the prior day in response to the Vermont senator doubling down on his sharp rhetoric.

“I don’t know why he’s saying that, but I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz anytime,” Clinton told reporters Thursday.

By Friday afternoon, Clinton was taking something of a victory lap.

"Seriously, I’ve been called a lot of things over the years, but unqualified has not been one of them," she said in Buffalo, New York.

The spat over who has the bona fides to be president stemmed from reports this week that vexed the Sanders campaign. One report suggested Clinton questioned Sanders’ qualifications by wavering during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” while another said her campaign planned to deploy a new strategy ahead of the New York primary to disqualify and defeat Sanders and unite the party later.

“The point is I would hope that we get away from these attacks, which by the way the media likes very much, and start focusing — maybe we can do that today — on the real issues,” Sanders said.

Eliza Collins contributed to this report.