Sanders: ‘I don’t think that we are distorting reality’

by Rebecca Savransky - 04/03/16 9:40 AM ET

Sanders on Clinton attacks: "I don't think that we are distorting reality" https://t.co/1FIKzrf8Kb #CNNSOTU https://t.co/Bu3kphIwIq

— CNN (@CNN) April 3, 2016

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday said his claim about rival Hillary Clinton taking significant amounts of money from the fossil fuel industry is correct.

“I don’t think that we are distorting reality,” the Vermont senator said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

{mosads}”That’s the simple reality.”

Sanders has said that Clinton took substantial donations from the fossil fuel industry. Clinton last week accused Sanders of lying about the donations she’s received.

The Washington Post gave Sanders’s claim “three Pinocchios” in its fact check, saying Sanders exaggerated the contributions Clinton received from the oil and gas industry.

“We were not lying; we were telling the truth,” Sanders said on Sunday.

“Climate change is one of the great crises facing this country. We’ve got to stand up to the fossil fuel industry, transform our energy system, not take money from paid lobbyists.”

Sanders said he takes money from individuals — people who work in an industry.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Sanders said.

“That is very different from taking money from lobbyists, people who are working day and night in defense of that industry,” he continued.

“There is a difference getting money from a worker and somebody whose job … is to represent that industry.”

Tags Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton Sunday shows