Nicole Gaudiano

USA TODAY

A top adviser to Bernie Sanders says former congressman Barney Frank shouldn’t have a leadership role in the 2016 Democratic convention after carrying out an ageist attack against Sanders.

Tad Devine, Sanders’ senior adviser, said Frank is among surrogates for Hillary Clinton who used Sanders’ remarks to a NY Daily News editorial board on April 1 to promote a story line that questions Sanders’ capacity to be president.

Devine pointed to Frank’s April 6 statements on MSNBC that Sanders “confused several things” in his responses to questions about his core issue of breaking up big banks. Frank also said Sanders’ responses to the editorial board were not “coherent.”

“These are remarks that do not speak merely to the substance of policy proposals but speak to his capacity and obviously his age,” Devine said Monday of Sanders. “I think they’re trying to suggest that he does not have the capacity to be president of the United States. That is part of their attack on his qualifications."

Devine’s remarks follow suggestions that Sanders was sexist in saying Clinton was unqualified to be president, a charge Sanders made — and later walked back — after Clinton wouldn’t answer whether Sanders was qualified.

Devine stood by his criticism after being reminded that Frank is two years older than Sanders. Frank is 76 and Sanders is 74.

He said Frank’s comments are the manifestation of Clinton’s strategy after his April 5 win in Wisconsin to disqualify Sanders. And he has concerns about Frank serving as co-chairman of the convention’s rules committee in July. Frank was appointed to the position by Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

“At the appropriate point in time, we will raise objection to it,” he said, adding that he is expressing his own concerns. “The people who are going to chair these committees for the convention need to be people who are not engaged in that level of partisanship.”

Responding on Tuesday, Frank said it would be “stupid” and baffling” to think that age played a role in his criticism of Sanders.

“How many 76-year-olds do you know who would like to imply that a 74-year-old is too old to do something?” he asked. “I’m two years older than Senator Sanders! That would lead me to question Mr. Devine’s qualifications for having a rational debate.”

Frank said he expects Clinton to secure a clear majority of delegates, but he will step aside from his rules committee co-chairmanship if the nomination is uncertain in June and a rules interpretation could be the deciding factor.

“I understand the perception problem,” he said. “I don’t insist that everyone in the world have the same confidence in my judgment that I do.”

Frank, co-author of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, has long criticized Sanders. In July, he wrote a column for Politico, “Why Progressives shouldn’t support Bernie,” arguing that a long primary would undermine Clinton’s general election chances.

Frank said he has never suggested that Sanders is unqualified to be president, but he disagrees with his approach to politics.

“I think he has been too rigid and his record in 26 years in Congress is not one that leads to getting things done,” he said. “The people most committed to change in Congress who have served with both him and Hillary Clinton are overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton. Senator Sanders position has been to state what he believes is the ideal but I don’t think he can effectively advance it.”

Bernie Sanders under fire for edit board interview