MSNBC host Rachel Maddow pointedly asked Hillary Clinton on Monday if she was behind the widely criticized Democratic primary debate schedule.
"Is it true that your campaign advocated for a 'light' schedule and particularly these debates being on in TV Siberia, on weekends and holidays?” Maddow asked Clinton during a phone interview on "The Rachel Maddow Show."
“Well Rachel, I really don’t have any knowledge of that,” Clinton responded. "That’s not saying that anyone representing me or other campaigns didn’t express an opinion."
Fellow Democratic candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley have publicly criticized the Democratic National Committee for its debate schedule, which they claimed gave front-runner Clinton an advantage.
While both Republican and Democratic debates have been scheduled during weekends, the DNC has sanctioned far fewer debates than its Republican rivals. Half of all DNC-sanctioned debates are scheduled on weekends.
Clinton said during the interview that she had heard that the television networks, which have partnered with the DNC to air the debates, preferred the weekend schedule.
Asked to respond to Clinton's claim, DNC Spokesman Eric Walker told The Huffington Post he could not divulge details about the negotiations between the broadcast networks and the DNC.
“Just like the RNC, the DNC scheduled network debates on the weekends. Just like the RNC, the DNC scheduled cable debates on weeknights," he said.
Walker insisted that the only reason Republicans are seeing such high ratings for their debates this election cycle is because of business mogul Donald Trump.
“Every Democratic debate this cycle has garnered a larger audience than every Republican debate before Trump came along. Our first debate in Las Vegas set a record for the most-watched Democratic debate of all time. Only three debates at the height of the Clinton/Obama primary in 2008 rated higher than the lowest-rated Democratic debate in 2016," Walker said. "Frankly, we’re glad that we don’t have to rely on a race-baiting carnival barker like Trump for us to draw record-setting ratings."
Responding to criticism over the weekend, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz claimed the debate schedule was meant to "maximize" viewership -- not the opposite.
Maddow offered up a proposal to Clinton later in the interview.
“If you, Sen. Sanders and Gov. O’Malley ever decide that you want more and you don’t want to negotiate it, you could all just show up here and I’ll help,” Maddow told Clinton.
Watch "The Rachel Maddow Show" clip above.
Also On HuffPost:
