Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., laughed heartily when Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked him about a claim made by former Vice President Joe Biden during Thursday's Democratic presidential debate in Houston.
Biden criticized Sanders' Medicare-for-all health care plan, which the Delaware Democrat claimed required some faith in "corporate America."
Biden said his plan would expand on the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) and vowed to cut costs for families while welcoming all Americans who want the option to be automatically enrolled.
“If you notice, nobody’s yet said how much this is going to cost,” Biden said. “You have my friend from Vermont saying that the employer will give that money back to the employee.”
He added: “Let me tell you something, for a socialist, you’ve got a lot more confidence in corporate America than I do.”
While Doocy was being interviewed by Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier, Sanders walked past, and the reporter was able to stop him for a brief question on the matter.
"Biden ... referred to you as a socialist and he said he thought you were too nice to corporate America," Doocy said.
Sanders smiled and began laughing.
DEBATE DESCENDS INTO MELEE OVER HEALTH CARE, OBAMA, SOCIALISM AS DEMS STRUGGLE TO SHOW UNITY
"One of us voted for the Wall Street bailout -- that was Biden, by the way. One of us voted for disastrous trade agreements that were sponsored by corporate America -- that was Biden. One of us voted for a bankruptcy bill that was pushed by the banks -- that was Biden," he said.
"So, to suggest that Bernie Sanders is sympathetic to the corporate elite, I think, is rather humorous."
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Sanders elaborated, telling Doocy the only way for Democrats to defeat President Trump in 2020 is to engage in a campaign of "energy and excitement that speaks to the needs of working families."
"I'm very proud ... that I am the only candidate to be 100 percent funded by grassroots donations," he said.
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During the debate, Biden bristled when Sanders went on to blast the former vice president, noting the urgency of cancer patients who are struggling financially.
“I know a lot about cancer," Biden fired back, in a reference to his son Beau, who died of brain cancer. "And let me tell you something: Every single person who is diagnosed with cancer, or any other disease, will not go bankrupt because of that."
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.