Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) abruptly tried to ditch an interview with ABC News after he was asked Sunday if he thinks Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) could be a possible contender for the U.S. Senate.
“Right now, we have, as I said, just a whole lot of people in the Congress. OK, Jonathan, thanks,” Sanders, 83, replied to political journalist Jonathan Karl, as he quickly rose from his seat to end the interview.
“You want to do nonsense, do nonsense,” Sanders added as he stood off camera. “I don’t want to talk about inside the Beltway stuff.”
Sanders hesitantly returned to the interview after Karl claimed he had just “one more question,” noting it was about him and not Ocasio-Cortez. Karl then asked Sanders if he plans to run for president again. Sanders previously had two failed bids for president.
“Right now, I’m Vermont’s senator. That’s what I do. And I’m very happy to do it,” Sanders told Karl. “I am 83 years of age, and I’m tired.”
Sanders’ comments come after he and Ocasio-Cortez have been rallying large crowds in recent weeks to fight against the disconcerting first months of President Donald Trump’s second term and his MAGA agenda.
Amid the rallies, the progressive lawmakers have also been calling for a democratic party that “fights harder.”
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“This isn’t just about Republicans. We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for us, too,” Ocasio-Cortez told a crowd at an event with Sanders in Las Vegas on Friday. “But what that means is that we as a community must choose and vote for Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class.”
Watch a clip from Sanders’ ABC News interview below.