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Clinton: 'I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me'

A frustrated Hillary Clinton forcefully said she was “so sick” of Bernie Sanders’ campaign alleging she accepts donations from the fossil fuel industry.

Following a campaign event in New York, the former secretary of state was approached by an environmental activist who pressed her about rejecting such contributions.

“I do not have — I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I am so sick — I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me,” an agitated Clinton said while angrily pointing her figure at the activist. “I’m sick of it.”

Thursday’s outburst wasn’t the first time Clinton has been accused of accepting money from the fossil fuel industry. After a campaign event late last year in Iowa, Steve Patterson, a leader of a local climate change group there, asked Clinton if she would join Sanders and Martin O’Malley and commit to rejecting money from the fossil fuel industry.

Clinton said she was unsure she had ever accepted money from the industry, noting that she isn’t “exactly one of their favorites.” But Patterson insisted she had.

“Have I? OK, well, I’ll check on that,” she responded. “They certainly haven’t made much of an impression on me if I don’t even know it.”

According to a fact check, it is true that Clinton's campaign hasn’t accepted donations directly from the industry — doing so would violate campaign law — and she hadn’t gotten contributions from PACs affiliated with the industry, either. But she has received more than $330,000 from oil and gas industry employees.

Sanders’ campaign said Thursday evening that Clinton has relied heavily on donations from oil and gas lobbyists and again called on her to accept Sanders’ proposal to debate in New York ahead of its April 19 primary.

“It’s no wonder that back in December Clinton refused to agree to stop accepting money from the fossil fuel industry when pressed at a town hall, saying, ‘I’m not going to do a litmus test on them,’” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement. “If Secretary Clinton wants to discuss this and other important issues she should stop stalling and agree to a debate in New York before the April 19 primary election.”

Eva Resnick-Day, the activist who questioned Clinton on Thursday, works with Greenpeace USA, an organization that has tracked Clinton receiving more than $4.5 million in funding this cycle — in the form of her campaign and allied super PAC — from lobbyists, bundlers and donors with ties to the industry.

Greenpeace tallied 57 fossil fuel lobbyists who have given to Clinton — 43 gave the maximum $2,700 contribution to her campaign, and 11 bundled $1.1 million.