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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters after the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate on April 14 in New York. | AP Photo Clinton campaign fires back on Wall Street speech transcripts

Surrogates for both Democratic candidates sniped back and forth on the cable shows Friday over whether Hillary Clinton should release the transcripts of her paid speeches to financial institutions, as Bernie Sanders again suggested during the previous night's debate that the lack of disclosure bespeaks a lack of judgment.

A senior adviser to Clinton's campaign on Friday decried the Sanders' campaign's insinuation.

“This is what the Sanders campaign wants, right? The insinuation that there is something nefarious," Karen Finney said during an interview on MSNBC, remarking that when Sanders was asked directly about whether the speeches changed Clinton's policies, he "had no answer."

Finney added, "I wish that on that stage, Sen. Sanders would have looked Hillary Clinton in the eye and just said directly what he has insinuated time and time again, that there is, you know, some connection, perhaps because she got paid for making a speech, that somehow influenced any activity or action she has ever taken. And that’s what’s really what’s at the heart of this.”

Chief pollster and strategist Joel Benenson insisted that Sanders himself had put the issue to rest by failing to point to a specific instance.

The Sanders campaign, meanwhile, conceded that its candidate could have been more direct in addressing whether money from Wall Street and other interests has tainted Clinton's judgment and credibility.

“Well, I suppose he could have," senior adviser Tad Devine told MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports." “There’s a lot of issues he hasn’t really gone nearly as hard as he could."

In particular, Devine pointed to Clinton's 2001 vote as a senator for the Bankruptcy Reform Act as one possible instance, after she opposed it as first lady.

Clinton has explained the vote as one she changed at the insistence of then-Sen. Joe Biden. When Mitchell made that point, Devine mused, "She also received enormous contributions from the financial industry, too.”

"Our argument is not that Hillary Clinton is corrupt," Devine said. "OK, and I know everybody's looking for that argument. Bernie's argument is that the system is corrupt, and if you're going to participate in it, you're not going to be able to change things."

Finney, as other members of Clinton campaign have done, rejected the notion that Clinton's paid speech transcripts are important to undecided voters.

“Well again, Sen. Sanders is trying to use this to make an allegation to which he has absolutely no response when asked where is the proof. So I think a lot of voters also find that very offensive," Finney said. "And moreover, I have to tell you that if you are trying to figure out how to send your kid to college, if you are trying to figure out how to take care of a sick parent or wanting your child’s schools to be improved, this is not something you care about."

"I mean, I understand, I think we understand the sort of media fascination with this," Finney said. "But I’m just telling you, I mean, I have been out there on the road talking to voters. This never comes up.”

Clinton's surrogates, meanwhile, continued to press Sanders to release his tax returns. Sanders himself said he would release the 2014 returns at some point later Friday.

Speaking earlier in the day on CNN, Clinton supporter and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) appeared to break with the campaign line in remarking of the candidate's decision-making behind the release of transcripts, "I think she will. I think she’s been clear that she’s going to, and yes I would."

Clinton has long maintained that she will release the transcripts of her paid speeches when every other candidate in both parties does the same. Asked whether that should be the standard, Gillibrand demurred.

“I think everyone makes their own judgment," remarked Gillibrand, who like Finney, suggested tax returns as a better standard by which voters should judge the candidates.

Eliza Collins and Nolan D. McCaskill contributed.