"It was a conversation, and when you only see words down, it doesn't quite give the flavor of it," Sanders said on CNN, lamenting how the Daily News presented the interview.

ADVERTISEMENT

"It was a very odd interview," she continued. "We commented on that afterwards, that it was more of an inquisition: Hurry, hurry, interrupt, let's ask the questions, don't let you even finish your answers."

Sanders admitted the campaign wasn't aware the newspaper would release a transcript of the April 1 interview, suggesting her husband was more collected in person than the verbatim quotes suggest.

The cover of the newspaper ripped Sanders on April 6, a day after he won the Wisconsin primary, and portrayed his position on firearms as antipathetic to the families of victims in the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting.