Sen. Elizabeth Warren: ‘This is not a political issue’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed Donald Trump Donald John TrumpTrump: Dems playing destructive ‘con game’ with Kavanaugh Several Yale Law classmates recuse themselves from Kavanaugh hearing MORE (I) for saying that the Democrats should have “never” supported the Iran nuclear deal during his 2016 presidential bid.ADVERTISEMENT”You said that you were for it, but you were against it, right?

The next day, you said you were in favor of it.

You said that, and you said, ‘Well, maybe I should have said that,’ but that was it,” Sanders told ABC News.

“The next day I said I was against it.

So what do you think, Senator?

Do you want me to be a Republican or a Democrat for a decade?

I would have liked to have been for it but it wasn’t going to happen.”

The senator from Vermont was responding to a statement released by the Republican National Committee on Monday.

The statement, which was read to reporters at the RNC’s summer meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., said Trump’s comments were “wrong and unhelpful,” and urged him to apologize.

“President Trump has been criticized for his inaccurate statements and for his inappropriate and demeaning comments about the Iran Nuclear Deal,” RNC spokesman Matt House said in a statement.

“While the RNC has no position on the Iran Deal, President Trump should immediately issue a full apology.”

In response to Trump’s statement, Sanders said, “What President Trump is saying is, ‘We were wrong and unsupportive and I apologize.’

That’s not how the Republican Party operates.

We were supportive of the Iran deal.

And I was.”

Sanders added that he “would have preferred” to have supported the deal, and said that “we would not have gone into this with Donald Trump as president.”

“If he wants to be president, I think he should take responsibility for his comments and move on from it,” the senator said.

“I would not be a Democratic senator for ten years if I thought that I could have been a Republican for five.”

Sanders and former vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine Timothy (Tim) Michael KaineWarren: I’ll be honest with you: I’m a Democrat-leaning voter Warren: Democrats should vote for Clinton again if they can ‘conquered’ Trump 2020 primary: Sanders campaign vows to ‘stand strong’ against Trump 2020: Warren and Kaine vow to stand strong against Trump MORE were in Florida on Monday for a forum on the Iranian nuclear deal, which Trump has called a “disaster.”

“The Iran nuclear agreement was a disaster,” the Vermont senator said during his remarks at the event.

“This is a crisis.

We should have never given the Iranians the ability to build a nuclear weapon, let alone to make it work.

And we should never have signed the deal.

So the Democrats, the Republicans, should never be friends with the Iranians.”

He added that the deal “didn’t do what the president promised it would do.”

“It was bad policy,” Sanders said.