Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley used an appearance Monday night on “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central to attack Hillary Rodham Clinton, accusing the former senator from New York of being too close to Wall Street to protect Americans from the “excesses” of big financial institutions. 

“I believe I have the independence to actually get that done, and I do not believe that Hillary Clinton does,” Maryland’s former governor told the show’s new host, Trevor Noah.

The segment got off to a lighter start, with Noah telling O’Malley, who is lagging badly in the polls, that he is “the sexiest candidate” and that he looks like a president.

It took a turn for the more serious when the two discussed gun control and when Noah brought up the fact that O’Malley endorsed Clinton during her 2008 presidential bid, which pitted her against then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois during the Democratic primaries.

“As our times changes, as our challenges change, I believe new leadership is required,” O’Malley said, noting that the recession had taken place since then.

He said that was a time “when Wall Street and these megabanks ... forced all of the rest of us as taxpayers to cover their bad bets and bail them out.”

“That’s still something we haven’t delivered upon as Democrats, namely, to protect the Main Street economy from excesses on Wall Street,” O’Malley said.

Both O’Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have called for the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall, a Depression-era measure that separated commercial and investment banking. Critics blame its repeal during Bill Clinton’s presidency for hastening the economy’s troubles.

O’Malley noted that Clinton, who served as secretary of state under President Obama, has not done so, suggesting that's because she had to look out for the big banks as a senator from New York.

Prior to last week’s first Democratic debate, O’Malley said, Clinton announced new positions on issues including the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. But, O’Malley said: “She couldn’t bring herself to say that we need to separate commercial banking from the speculative banking, namely reinstating Glass-Steagall, because she can’t.”

Noah referenced the debate at the outset of his broadcast Monday night, showing the results of a CNN poll that asked which candidate did the best job. Clinton led the pack with 62 percent, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 35 percent. Only 1 percent chose O’Malley.