Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton Draw Sharp Questions at Fox News Forum

DETROIT — The night after a testy Democratic debate, Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton had the chance to confront another adversary: Fox News.

On Monday, the news network hosted a forum at which the host, Bret Baier, grilled both candidates on topics that seldom come up at Democratic events, including abortion rights, the national debt and the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East.

For Mr. Sanders, the forum gave him a chance to continue his criticism of Mrs. Clinton over her support for the Wall Street bailout, her mixed record on international trade deals and her 2002 vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

But he also used the question-and-answer session at the Gem Theater here to clarify some of his remarks from the Sunday debate in nearby Flint, Mich., including a comment that white people “don’t know what it’s like to be poor” or about “living in a ghetto.”

“There is no candidate in this race who has talked more about poverty than I have,” Mr. Sanders said. “What I meant by that is that in African-American communities you have people living in desperation often being abused by white police officers,” but he added, “I know about white poverty.”

Pressed on his budget-busting plans for universal health care, Mr. Sanders reiterated his belief that health care is a right for all people.

“Excuse me, where does that right come from, in your mind?” Mr. Baier asked.

“Being a human being,” Mr. Sanders replied, “being a human being,”

Both Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton said they believed abortion — a topic that rarely comes up at Democratic debates but that sometimes dominates the Republican stage — is a decision best left to women, their doctors and their families.

“I have been on record in favor of a late pregnancy regulation that would have exceptions for the life and health of the mother,” Mrs. Clinton said, adding that she objected to recent efforts in Congress to pass a law that would ban abortions after 20 weeks without exceptions.

Mr. Baier aggressively questioned Mrs. Clinton on her handling of the 2011 intervention in Libya that is widely credited with the current instability in the region. As secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton had urged the White House to back the United States-led NATO coalition that ousted Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi

“Once it became clear to him that the people of Libya were trying to get more freedom and hopefully a better future,” she said of the uprisings against Mr. Qaddafi during the Arab Spring, “he basically said he was going to hunt them down like cockroaches.”

Leaving him in power, she said, would have led to many more deaths.

“It’s been a couple years,” Mrs. Clinton continued. “They haven’t been as successful as their neighbor Tunisia, but they are attempting to move forward.”

Asked by a 13-year-old in the audience whether she considered Mr. Sanders an ally or an adversary, Mrs. Clinton quickly said, “Oh, an ally for sure!”

“Like we saw in the debate last night, we air those differences about issues,” Mrs. Clinton told the boy, Samuel. “Compare that to the Republicans and how they behave.”

Mrs. Clinton has not done a sit-down interview with Fox News, which hosted the last Republican debate, in two years, and she agreed to the forum the day before the Michigan primary after Mr. Sanders said he would attend.

Mr. Baier questioned her about her use of a private email server while at the State Department and whether she knowingly sent or received classified emails. “Nothing I sent was marked classified or that I received was marked classified,” she said.

“I have said it wasn’t the best choice to use a personal email. It was a mistake,” Mrs. Clinton said. “However, I am not alone in that. Many people in the government, past and current, have on occasion or as a practice done the same.”

Mr. Sanders said that the decision of the former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg not to run for president was “his decision,” but that “it’s bad for American democracy that the only people who feel in many ways that they can run for president are people who have so much money.”

“I have the greatest respect for Mike Bloomberg,” Mrs. Clinton said of the billionaire philanthropist, whom she worked with as a senator from New York. “He has to make his own decisions.”

Asked which Republicans they have good relationships with, both Democratic candidates, who were not onstage together, hesitated. “If I tell you that person, it will be a disservice to that person,” Mr. Sanders said.

Mrs. Clinton named Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator John McCain of Arizona, but she added: “I hesitate to mention any more names. It will probably hurt them and I do want to work with them.”

Seeming relieved, Mrs. Clinton beamed, “Oh my gosh, it went by so fast, Bret!” when the hourlong special had reached its conclusion.

“We look forward to having you back on Fox,” Mr. Baier said.