Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders gave a glowing quasi-endorsement to rival Senator Elizabeth Warren, calling his fellow presidential hopeful a “good candidate,” a “serious candidate,” and a “progressive candidate.”

During a taped interview that aired on Sunday morning’s edition of ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Jonathan Karl asked Sanders why voters should choose him over Warren, and the response was illuminating,

“Last time around you said that you were the only candidate in the race willing to take on the billionaire class,” Karl observed, and asked “Is that true now?”

“Well, I think Elizabeth Warren is a very good Senator,” Sanders replied, adding “My views are different than Elizabeth’s on this or that issue, but she’s certainly a progressive candidate.”

“Why are you a better choice for progressive than Elizabeth Warren?” Karl asked, to which Sanders replied “Well, I’ll let the voters decide that.”

“Well, you’re going to have to outline that,” Karl pressed.

“Yeah, we will deal with it, but not right now,” Sanders said, adding “I mean, she is a friend of mine. She’s a serious candidate. She’s a good candidate. We have our differences, we agree on a lot of things. We’ll let the voters sort it out.”

Sanders has not been shy about drawing contrasts with candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden, who currently leads the Democratic field, but his handling of Warren could be a hint at things to come. Sanders has already said that he would like to pick a woman as his running mate, and made a similar indication to Karl elsewhere in the interview.

Watch the clip above, via ABC.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]