In a fascinating moment of candid conversation, an audio recording has surfaced of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton speaking with host Chris Matthews during a commercial break of Monday's MSNBC town hall about the current presidential race.

Clinton first scolded the media for their ravenous coverage of Donald Trump — of which Matthews is guilty-as-charged — saying, "You guys can't stop covering him!" She went on to criticize the fact that the media has played both sides of the coin with Trump, both covering his success, and then fear-mongering viewers over his rise. "He is a dangerous presence," she added, in clear reference to the racism, violence, and general xenophobia that Trump has inspired among supporters. 

Matthews defended the media covering Trump, but was in general agreement with Hillary saying, "You can laugh at him," when he appears on major news outlets. 

Then the conversation turned to Chris Christie and his recent endorsement of The Donald. "Why would... why did he support him?" Hillary asked. "Did he have a debt or something?"  

One question that is not answered is whether or not this audio release was OK'd by Hillary's campaign. Always the politician, she may have seen this as an opportunity to voice her real opinions on the current Republican race without having to bash it on the record. 

Interestingly, BET News recently covered both Clinton's and Bernie Sanders's reluctance to flat-out label Trump as a racist. Perhaps this audio release was Clinton's way of doing just that?

(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)