Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brushed off several attempts by Andrea Mitchell to get him to bash fellow Democrats like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, instead taking questions from other reporters as Mitchell pursued him.

Following Thursday night’s NBC News Democratic Presidential Debate, anchor Brian Williams tossed to Mitchell’s walk-and-talk with Sanders, already in progress. Mitchell first tried to get Sanders to weigh in on Kamala Harris‘ brutal barrage against Biden, but Sanders was not interested.

“Is Joe Biden still the frontrunner after tonight, after Kamala Harris gave that personal explanation of school busing?” Mitchell asked.

“I am not going to, I am, I am not going to speculate on that,” Sanders said, waving the question off. “All I know is that we are running hard, I think we’re looking good in Iowa, New Hampshire, I think we stand in excellent chance to win the Democratic nomination, and if we do that, I have absolutely confidence that we are going to defeat Donald Trump.”

Sanders then greeted another reporter as Mitchell followed him, and the reporter asked “How was your experience at the detention center today?”

Sanders replied at length, saying “Look, when you meet or be in a facility where people have literally walked, children and mothers, have walked over a thousand miles because back home in Honduras and elsewhere there were gangs that said ‘If your 10-year-old son does not join our gang we’re going to kill the whole family,’ now if that was your family, or your family, you know what you would do? You would walk as well.”

“And our job is not to lock children up in cages, but to open our hearts up to those children,” Sanders added.

Mitchell then used Sanders’ response as a way in, asking “So why did the House Democrats, why did the Democrats go along with the Senate today, and Nancy Pelosi lose her caucus, to not even have a 90-day restriction?”

Sanders again waved Mitchell off, telling her “To be honest with you, I’ve been preoccupied with other things today, I’m sorry.”

As Mitchell looked on, Sanders then took several questions from CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny, until Williams finally cut away with a laugh.

Prior to Wednesday’s debate, Mitchell also tried to bait Sen. Elizabeth Warren by asking her “Are you an imitation of Bernie Sanders?”, but Warren responded in similar fashion, by talking about her own record.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.

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