TAPPER: Good evening from Washington, D.C. And welcome to this unique event, the CNN-Univision Democratic presidential debate with the two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination, former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Candidates, welcome, it's good to have you. I'm Jake Tapper, along with CNN's Dana Bash and Univision's Ilia Calderon.

BASH: We come together tonight at an extraordinary time in our country when people are worried about far more than just presidential politics. We're in a national emergency because of the devastating global pandemic of coronavirus. It has killed nearly 6,000 people around the world, and 65 dead and more than 3,300 known cases here in the United States. As a result, tonight's debate will focus heavily on the crisis.

CALDERON: The setting of this debate is also different. To reduce unnecessary risk of transmission of the virus, CNN, Univision, the Democratic National Committee, and the campaigns moved this debate from Phoenix, Arizona, to here at CNN studios in Washington, without any audience.

TAPPER: And all of this comes, of course, as four more states -- Florida, Arizona, Ohio, and Illinois -- prepare to vote on Tuesday, with Vice President Biden currently leading Senator Sanders in the race for delegates.

Here's what we're going to do tonight. Each of you will have 90 seconds to answer questions and 45 seconds for responses and rebuttals. As much as we can, we hope this will be a conversation between the two of you.

So let's begin with the most important issue right now: the coronavirus and what you would do as president in the face of it. Vice President Biden, let me start with you. We're in a reality right now that might have seemed unimaginable a week ago. Schools have been cancelled for more than 25 million students. Grocery store shelves have been cleared out. March Madness, NBA games, Disney parks, Broadway, small businesses all shut down, and just today, the CDC issued a new recommendation that for the next eight weeks events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the U.S. be cancelled or postponed.

What do you say to the American people who are confronting this new reality?

BIDEN: Well, first of all, my heart goes out to those who have already lost someone or those who are suffering from the virus. And this is bigger than any one of us. This calls for a national rallying to everybody move together.

And, you know, I laid out in detail what I would do were I president today. You can go to joebiden.com. I laid it out in significant detail.

But there are three pieces to this. First of all, we have to take care of those who, in fact, are exposed or likely to be exposed to the virus. And that means we have to do testing, we have to get the testing kits up and ready. I would have the World Health Organization, I'd take advantage of the test kits they have available to us, even though the president says a million or more are coming. Let's just get all the tests we can, done, as quickly as we can.

Secondly, I would make sure that every state in the union had at least 10 places where they had drive-thru testing arrangements. I would also at this point deal with the need to begin to plan for the need for additional hospital beds. We have that capacity in the Department of Defense, as well as with the FEMA. And they can set up 100-bed, 500-bed hospitals and tents quickly. We have to lay all that out.

But we have to deal with the economic fallout quickly. And that means making sure that people who, in fact, lose their job, don't get a paycheck, can't pay their mortgage, are able to pay it and pay them now. And do it now. Small businesses, be able to borrow interest- free loans.

I see my time is up here. Are you going to hold us tightly, I assume, but that's what I would do. Go to Joebiden.com. It lays out precisely what I would do were I were president today.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders, this morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that it's possible that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans, could die from coronavirus in a worst-case scenario. If you were president right now, what's the most important thing you would do tonight to try to save American lives?

SANDERS: Well, firstly, we have to do -- whether or not I'm president, is to shut this president up right now, because he is undermining the doctors and the scientists who are trying to help the American people. It is unacceptable for him to be blabbering with unfactual information, which is confusing the general public.

Second of all, what we need to do -- and I'm glad that he has called a state of national emergency -- what we have got to do is move aggressively to make sure that every person in this country finally understands that when they get sick with the coronavirus, that they will -- that all payments will be made, that they don't have to worry about coming up with money for testing, they don't have to worry about coming up with money for treatment.

[20:05:00] This is an unprecedented moment in American history. Now, I obviously believe in Medicare for all. I will fight for that as president.

But right now, in this emergency, I want every person in this country to understand that when you get sick, you go to the doctor. When you get sick, if you have the virus, that will be paid for. Do not worry about the cost right now, because we're in the middle of a national emergency.

Second of all, we have to make sure that our hospitals have the ventilators that they need, have the IC units that they need. Right now, we have a lack of medical personnel. And I worry very much that if there is a peak, whether we have the capability of dealing with hundreds of thousands of people who may be in hospitals.

So we need unprecedented action right now to deal with the unprecedented crisis. And bottom line, from an economic point of view, what we have got to say to the American people, if you lose your job, you will be made whole. You're not going to lose income. If Trump can put -- or the Fed can president $1.5 trillion into the banking system, we can protect the wages of every worker in America.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

Vice President Biden, President Trump says he does not take any responsibility for the problems with coronavirus testing, in part because, he says, he inherited so many rules, regulations, and red tape. Did bureaucratic red tape hamper this response in any way?

BIDEN: No, look, the World Health Organization offered -- offered the testing kits that they have available and to give it to us now. We refused them. We did not want to buy them. We did not want to get them from them. We wanted to make sure we had our own. I think he said something like we have the best scientists in America, or something to that effect.

The idea that we are not prepared for this and not -- and the other thing I want to point out. And I agree with Bernie. We're in a situation where we have to now be providing for the hospitals that are going to be needed, needed now. The present system cannot handle the surge that is likely to come.

So we should already be sitting down and planning where we're going to put these temporary hospitals. And we can do that. We did that -- we've been through this before with the coronavirus. We've been through this -- I mean, excuse me, we've been through this before with dealing with the viruses that -- the H1N1 -- as well as what happened in Africa. We provided these hospitals dealing with these great pandemics, and we were able to do it quickly. And people would have a place to go. But we also have to provide the equipment to protect the first responders. And that's not being done, either.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders, on that note -- and both of you have addressed this -- but, obviously, another major health concern right now for officials is the potential surge in patients all at once, overburdening hospitals, the health care system. You've mentioned ICU beds, both of you, and ventilators.

We're already in the middle of flu season, so already a lot of those beds and ventilators are already being used. If you were president right now, what would you do to make sure every sick American is able to get treatment so the U.S. does not suffer the same fate as Italy, where doctors have to decide right now who gets life-saving treatment and who does not?

SANDERS: Jake, let's be honest and understand that this coronavirus pandemic exposes the incredible weakness and dysfunctionality of our current health care system. Now, we're spending twice as much per person on health care as the people of any other country. How in God's name does it happen that we end up with 87 million people who are uninsured or underinsured and there are people who are watching this program tonight who are saying, "I'm not feeling well. Should I go to the doctor? But I can't afford to go to the doctor. What happens if I am sick? It's going to cost thousands of for treatment. Who's going to feed my kids?"

We are the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people. We're spending so much money and yet we are not even prepared for this pandemic. How come we don't have enough doctors? How come hospitals in rural areas are shutting down? How come people can't afford to get the prescription drugs they need because we have a bunch of crooks who are running the pharmaceutical industry, ripping us off every single day?

And I'll tell you something right now. In the midst of this epidemic, you got people in the pharmaceutical industry who are saying, oh, wow, what an opportunity to make a fortune.

So the word has got to go out, and I certainly would do this as president: You don't worry. People of America, do not worry about the cost of prescription drugs. Do not worry about the cost of the health care that you're going to get, because we are a nation -- a civilized democratic society. Everybody, rich and poor, middle class, will get the care they need. The drug companies will not rip us off.

BASH: Thank you, Senator. Vice President Biden, some medical experts are saying the only true way to control this virus is through a national quarantine, requiring every American, other than essential personnel, to stay home. Would you take that unprecedented step of a national lockdown?

BIDEN: What I would do is what we did in our administration.

[20:10:00]

I would call a meeting in the Situation Room of all the experts in America dealing with this crisis. I would sit them down and I would do exactly what we did then. What is it that we need? Listen to the experts. What do we need?

And with all due respect for Medicare for all, you have a single-payer system in Italy. It doesn't work there. It has nothing to do with Medicare for all. That would not solve the problem at all. We can take care of that right now by making sure that no one has to

pay for treatment, period, because of the crisis. No one has to pay for whatever drugs are needed, period, because of the crisis. No one has to pay for hospitalization because of the crisis, period. That is a national emergency, and that's how it's handled. It is not working in Italy right now, and they have a single-payer system.

SANDERS: Well...

BIDEN: Now, with regard to what else I would do, the fact is that we're in a position where I would bring together the leading experts in the world. Instead of doing this -- in the United States -- instead of doing this piecemeal, sit down and do what we did before with the Ebola crisis, what is needed and have one voice, one voice, like we did every day we met in that crisis in the Situation Room, laying out -- so we lay out overall, for all nation, what the best proposal is and how to move forward.

In the absence of that, governors are making some sound decisions. They're doing the best they can by going out and getting the health care experts is their communities and their states to move. But it should be directed from the White House, from the Situation Room, laying out in detail like we did in the Ebola crisis. And we beat it.

BASH: Thank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders, your response?

SANDERS: Well, first of all, the dysfunctionality of the current health care system is obviously apparent. As I said earlier, there are people who hesitate going to the doctor. You're going to have a maze of regulations -- well, if this is my income, if that's my income, can I get it, can I not get it? Clearly, we are not prepared. And Trump only exacerbates the crisis.

When we spend twice as much per capita on health care as any other nation, one might expect that we would have enough doctors all over this country. One might expect that we would have affordable prescription drugs. One might expect that we are preparing effectively for a pandemic that we were ready with the ventilators, with the ICUs, with the test kits that we need. We are not.

And bottom line here is, in terms of Medicare for all, despite what the vice president is saying, what the experts tell us is that one of the reasons that we are unprepared and have been unprepared is we don't have a system. We've got thousands of private insurance plans. That is not a system that is prepared to provide health care to all people.

In a good year, without the epidemic, we're losing up to 60,000 people who die every year because they don't get to a doctor on time. It's clearly this crisis is only making a bad situation worse.

BIDEN: That has nothing to do when you're in a national crisis. The national crisis says, we're responding. It's all free. You don't have to pay for a thing. That has nothing to do with whether or not you have an insurance policy. This is a crisis. We're at war with the virus. We're at war with the virus. It has nothing to do with co-pays or anything. We just pass a law saying that you do not have to pay for any of this, period.

SANDERS: That's not true.

BIDEN: Period.

SANDERS: As a matter of fact, that's not true. That law has enormous loopholes. I understand that Nancy Pelosi did her best, Republicans prevented it.

BIDEN: No, I'm...

SANDERS: What -- what you're talking about, Joe, here is enormous loopholes within that, that, in fact, it is not necessarily covering treatment for all people in America, and that people are going to be stuck with the bill unless we change that. And we're going to offer legislation to, in fact, change that.

BIDEN: If I may, I offered legislation. I laid out on my plan that it would cover exactly what is not covered by the House. I laid out in the plan that I laid out for how we would deal with this crisis. Nobody -- nobody will pay for anything having to do with the crisis.

This is a national emergency. There isn't a question of whether or not this is something that could be covered by insurance or anything else. We, out of the Treasury, are going to pay for this. It's a national emergency.

SANDERS: But you see...

BIDEN: That's what my plan calls for.

SANDERS: But the weakness of this -- let's just do a hypothetical. Family member's diagnosed with the virus. Terrible tragedy, massive anxiety. The wife has the virus, the husband is a wreck, wants to go to a psychologist, wants to get counseling, doesn't have the money to do that.

Maybe their kid breaks a leg. They don't have the money to go to health care. So you're saying right now, in the middle of a crisis, but, you know what, last year at least 30,000 people died in America because they didn't get health care when they should, because we don't have universal coverage.

I think that's a crisis. One out of five people in America cannot afford the prescription drugs they need. They suffer. Some die. I consider that a crisis.

[20:15:00]

Bottom line is, we need a simple system, which exists in Canada, exists in countries all over the world, and that is, if you are an American, you get the health care you need, end of discussion. We can save huge sums of money doing that. The trick is, do we have the guts to take on the health care industry, some of which is funding the vice president's campaign? Do we have the courage to take on the executives at the prescription drug industry, some of which -- some of whom are funding his campaign?

BASH: Thank you, Senator.

Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: Look, I -- this is a national crisis. I don't want to get this into a back and forth in terms of our politics here. I've laid out a plan, building on Obamacare, providing a public option of Medicare, it would cover everyone the same way. This idea that this is his only answer is a mistake in notion.

But regardless of whether my plan was in place or his, this is a crisis. This is like we are being attacked from abroad. This is something that is of great consequence. This is like a war. And in a war, you do whatever is needed to be done to take care of your people.

And what you do is you -- and I have proposed it, laid it out in detail -- everything that you need in terms of dealing with this crisis would be free. It is paid for by the taxpayers generally. Generally. It has nothing to do with Bernie's Medicare for all.

And by the way...

BASH: Vice President Biden, thank you.

SANDERS: Let me just...

BASH: If I may, the vice president just mentioned war. Would you deploy the U.S. military in an effort to contain the virus? And if so, how?

SANDERS: Well, I think we use all of the tools that make sense. And if using the National Guard, which is folks I think in New York state are already using the National Guard, that is something that has to be done.

This is clearly, as the vice president indicated, a national emergency. And what I worry about is not only how we respond aggressively to the virus, but also how we respond aggressively to the economic fallout of a global recession.

So right now, in Illinois and Ohio, if my memory is correct, the governor there has said they're closing down bars, they're closing down restaurants. What happens to the workers who are there? What happens to the millions of workers who may end up losing their jobs?

So what I think we have got to do right now is, if Trump can provide or the Fed can provide a trillion and a half to -- for liquidity for the banks, what we've got to say to every worker in America, you know what, don't panic. You're not going to -- you'll be able to pay your mortgage, because you're going to get a check.

BASH: Senator...

SANDERS: You're going to be made whole.

BASH: Senator, we're going to talk about the economic -- oh, go ahead, Mr. Vice President.

BIDEN: The answer is I would call out the military.

BASH: OK.

BIDEN: Now. They have the capacity to provide this surge, help that hospitals need, and that is needed across the nation. I would make sure that they did exactly what they're prepared to do. They've done it. They did it in the Ebola crisis. They've done it. They have the capacity to build 500-bed hospitals and -- and tents that are completely safe and secure, and provide the help to get it done to anybody -- this overflow. So it is a national emergency. I would call out the military.

SANDERS: Well, the Ebola crisis is one thing. This is, obviously, a pandemic, which is far more severe and impactful to this country. And I think one of the things that we want to remember here is that we got a lot of elderly people in this country who are told stay home, don't leave your house. Who's going to get food to them? How do we get food to them?

You got schools all over this country now being shut down. OK? How are we going to make sure that the kids do well in this crisis, not become traumatized? What do we do about the parents now who have to stay home with kids and can't go to work?

So I think what -- bottom line here is that, in this crisis, we have got to start paying attention to the most vulnerable. That includes people who are in prison right now, people who are in homeless shelters right now. What about the half-a-million people who are homeless tonight? Who's going to respond to them?

Now, in 2008, when we had the Wall Street bailout, they did very well for the people on top. They bailed out the crooks on Wall Street. They forgot about the suffering of ordinary Americans. This time around, let us learn that lesson. Let us pay attention to the working families of this country...

BASH: Thank you, Senator.

SANDERS: ... and to the most vulnerable.

BIDEN: We have -- we have learned that lesson. And again, I lay out in detail what we should be doing now is we should be surging help to those places which are the most vulnerable. We should have every single person that's in a nursing home being able to be tested. We should be moving forces in to do that. We should move in the capability to do that.

We should be sitting down -- the president should be sitting down in the Situation Room right now and do what we did before and asking the question, OK, you're going to close everything. Well, if you close everything, how do you get prescriptions that have to be filled?

[20:20:00] How do you make sure, when you close that school, those children are going to be able to get the school food program? How do you make sure that you're going to be able to see to it that you get your mortgage paid?

I propose that all of the be covered, and it's going to take a multi- multi-billion dollar program to do that.

But first things first, the first thing is take care of the immediate needs we have now relating to surging the kind of capability that we have to prevent this great bump in terms of this -- how it's going to cause such pain as well as moving in the direction of making sure we have a long-term plan to make sure it's...

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We're going to talk in a moment a lot more about the economic impact.

But first, Senator Sanders, I want to ask about China. When this outbreak first started in China, the government there censored the whistleblower doctor who sounded the alarm and downplayed the true gravity of the the virus.

SANDERS: Right.

BASH: What consequences should China face for its role in this global crisis?

SANDERS: Well, one of the consequences is we have got to learn that you cannot lie to the American people. You cannot be less than frank about the a nature of the crisis. And what bothers me very much is you have a president of the United States today, Mr. Trump, who is praising China for the good work that they are doing when, in fact, as you indicated, they were lying to their own people and allowing that virus to move much more aggressively than should have been the case.

Look, I don't think this is the time for recrimination, to be punishing people. Now is the time, by the way, to be working with China. They are learning a lot about this crisis. And, in fact, they -- you know, we have got to work with them. We have got to work with the World Health Organization. We have got to work with Italy. We have got to work with countries around the world.

If there was ever a moment when the entire world is in this together, got to support each other, this is that moment.

BIDEN: That's right. And if I may respond, that's why I insisted the moment this broke out that we should insist on having our experts in China, in China to see what was happening and make it clear to China there would be consequences if we did not have that access.

And we have to lead the world. We should be the ones doing what we did during the Ebola crisis, bringing the whole world together and saying, this is what we must do. We have to have a common plan. All nations are affected the same way by this virus depending on exposure. And so this is -- we need world leadership. We need international

leadership. We need someone who knows how to bring the world together and insist on fundamental change in the way in which we're approaching this.

CALDERON: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Well, the bottom line here is that in the midst of this crisis, we have got to act in an unprecedented way. And that means every country on Earth is going to be affected. Every country on Earth has got to work together. It also means that we tell the pharmaceutical industry, we tell the big money interests that this is not a time for profiteering. This is a time for all of us working together.

The World Health Organization is a very, very strong organization. It is sad that we have a president that has ignored the international community in so many ways, including in terms of international health crises.

CALDERON: Thank you, Senator Sanders.

Obviously, another part of this story is the economy, which is reeling from this pandemic. Many economies are warning of a recession. Just hours ago the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero percent, which has not happened since the financial crisis in 2008.

Vice President Biden, what would you do?

BIDEN: What I would do is make it clear to the world and make it clear to the United States that we are going to have to have a major, major, major, major bailout package that we do not reward corporations. We reward individuals who in fact are really put to the test here.

The problem is the policies of this administration economically have -- we've eaten a lot of our seed corn here. The ability for us to use levers that were available before have been used up by this godawful tax cut of $1.9 trillion, by the fact that we have used -- the Fed will be of little consequence now. They have already used what leverage they have.

And so we're going to have to just level with the American people. And here's the deal, we're going to have to not only deal with the immediate crisis, economic crisis, which is the most critical now, to let people know their mortgage is going to be paid. Their rents are going to be paid. They are going to have child care. They are going to make sure that all their medical bills are cared for relating to this, et cetera.

We have to go beyond that. And we're going to have be in a situation where we're meeting on a daily basis like we did in the middle of the financial crisis to decide how we are going to find the wherewithal and the money to be able to see to it we hold all these folks harmless.

[20:25:00]

But not, not do what Trump wants to do. He's -- for example, he came along and said, I've got a great idea, let's -- well, you're going to tell me...

CALDERON: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: The Ebola crisis, in my view, exposes the dysfunctionality of the health care system and how poorly prepared we are despite how much money that we spend. And the Ebola crisis is also, I think, exposing the cruelty and the unjustness of our economy today.

We have more income and wealth inequality in America today than any time in 100 years. And what that means that in the midst of this crisis, you know, if you're a multimillionaire, no one is happy about this crisis, you're going to get through it. You're going to get everything you need. You're not worried about health care. You're not worried about income coming in.

Half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. We've got people who are struggling working two or three jobs to put food on the table. What is going to happen to them? So the lesson to be learned is we have got to move aggressively right now to address the economic crisis as a result of Ebola -- as a result -- keep talking about Ebola, you've got Ebola in my head here right now.

As a result of the virus here, the coronavirus, what we have got to do also is understand the fragility of the economy and how unjust and unfair it is that so few have so much and so many have so little.

BIDEN: People are looking for results, not a revolution. They want to deal with the results they need right now. And we can to that by making sure that we make everybody whole who has been so badly hurt. In terms of their -- they lose the job, in terms of not having the ability to care for their children, in terms of the health care costs that they have relating to the crisis, we can make them whole now, now, and put in process a system whereby they all are made whole.

That has nothing to do with the legitimate concern about income inequality in America. That's real. That's real. But that does not affect the need for us to act swiftly and very thoroughly and in concert with all of the forces that we need to bring to bear to deal with the crisis now so no one is thrown out of their home. No one loses their mortgage. No one is kicked out of their house. No one loses their paycheck. No one is in a position where they have a significant financial disability as a consequence of this SARS (ph) -- of this particular crisis.

CALDERON: Thank you, Vice President.

Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Well, I think it goes without saying that as a nation we have to respond as forcefully as we can to the current crisis. But it is not good enough not to be understanding how we got here and where we want to go into the future. So how does it happen that today in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, half of our people are scared to death?

Good, I agree. In fact, that was my idea originally to make sure that every person in this country is made whole as a result of this crisis. But, God willing, this crisis is going to end. And we're going to have to develop an economy in which half of our people are not living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to put food on the table.

BIDEN: I don't disagree with that. Let's -- you were asking about the crisis. What are we going to do about the crisis now, which is incredibly consequential to millions and millions of Americans? And it's not going to be solved by a change in tax policy now. It's not going to be solved by a change in how we deal with health care.

It has got to be solved with an emergency need right now. Right now, what do we do? First thing we do is we make sure that health care is available by us having the tools to be able to deal with it. And that requires us to go out and do much more than this president has done in terms of planning.

Secondly, it requires us to be in a position where we're anticipating what will happen in the next month or weeks in terms of the flow into the health care system by bringing the military along, more hospital beds, more training, more equipment, more equipment to save the first responders as well.

In addition to that, we then have to also look at what are the immediate needs right today. How about that person who has been laid off today? How about that person who doesn't have an income today? They have to know that tomorrow that when the paycheck comes due, you will get that paycheck.

And thirdly, we have to think long-term about how we deal with making all those who have been badly damaged right again. And then we move on. Then we move on to change the economy in ways that are more profoundly necessary than people think, but do not respond to the immediate needs we have now. First things first.

CALDERON: Thank you, Vice President.

Senator Sanders, you voted against bailouts following the 2008 financial crisis.

SANDERS: Yes.

[20:30:00]

CALDERON: Many believe those spending bills were a crucial part of stabilizing the economy back then. Would you support bailouts for industries that are being crushed by the coronavirus outbreak now?

SANDERS: I did, you're quite right. I voted against the bailout because I believed that the illegal behavior being done by the people on Wall Street should not be rewarded by a bailout. And today, by the way, those banks are more prosperous and own more assets, by and large, than they did back then. They are bigger now than they were then. I thought at the time that in the midst of massive income and wealth

inequality the people on top, through a surtax on the very wealthy, should bail out. And it's not just the TARP bailout. We gave trillions of dollars in zero interest loans to large banks.

But to answer your question where we are right now, we need to stabilize the economy, but we can't repeat what we did in 2008. Joe voted for that. I voted against it. Because we have got to do more than save the banks or the oil companies. Our job right now is to tell every working person in this country, no matter what your income is, you are not going to suffer as a result of this crisis of which you had no control.

CALDERON: Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: Had those banks all gone under, all those people Bernie says he cares about would be in deep trouble. Deep, deep trouble. All those little folks, we would have gone out of business. They would find themselves in position where they would lose everything they had in that bank, whether it was $10 or $300 or a savings account.

This was about saving an economy. And it did save the economy. And the banks paid back. And they paid back with interest. I agree with Bernie. Someone should have gone to jail. That was the big disagreement I had in terms of bailing out. But the question was, they paid back.

In addition to that, it also -- part of that was bailing out the automobile industry. Saving thousands of jobs. Tens of thousands of jobs over time. He voted against that as well.

SANDERS: No. I did not vote against that. That bailout money was used later on by Bush to protect the automobile industry.

But here's the point.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: One minute, one minute. Here's the point here, is that in terms of that bailout, there are ways that you can bail out. When you have a handful of people who have incredible wealth who have prospered off of the illegal behavior of individuals, in this case on Wall Street, you know what you say to them? And I did. I said this to the secretary of treasury. You want a bailout? That's fine. Have your friends pay for it, not working people.

The other point is, Joe should know, it wasn't just the $700 billion TARP program. The Fed gave trillions and trillions of dollars in zero interest loans to every financial institution in this country and central banks all over the world. That was essentially a grant. Because they then could sell that -- they could then bring in interest rates much greater than the zero interest loans that they got.

CALDERON: Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: Look, the fact of the matter is that if, in fact, the banks had all been -- gone under, we would be in a great depression. We would have not -- how do you get out of that? Now Bernie is saying that I guess he's going to do a wealth tax or something, that the top 1 percent could pay for everything. And they should pay for everything that occurred.

We were talking about tens and hundreds of billions of dollars. That's what this was about. And the fact was that it saved the economy from going into a depression. After we passed the Recovery Act, which I was the one that went out and got the three votes to get it changed, that had $900 billion in it and was the thing that kept us from going into a great depression.

CALDERON: Vice President Biden, I'm going to stay with you. Many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants and now even many legal immigrants in the United States are afraid to seek medical help. How do you ensure they feel safe enough to get treatment to help stop the spread of coronavirus?

BIDEN: Anyone who shows up to be tested for coronavirus or gets coronavirus and is treated would be held harmless. Just like I have argued all along. Any woman who crosses the border or is here and being beaten by her husband but she's undocumented, she cannot be deported because she reports.

There are certain things you cannot deport an undocumented alien for -- an undocumented person for. And that would be one of them. We want them -- it's in the interest of everyone. And those folks who are the xenophobic folks out there, it's even in their interest that that woman come forward or that man come forward because it deals with keeping the spread from moving more rapidly.

They will not, should not under any circumstances be held accountable and be deported for that purpose, period.

[20:35:00]

SANDERS: I have been criticized because the proposal for Medicare for All that I introduced includes making sure that undocumented people are also covered.

And right now, we have the absurd situation where undocumented people who try to do the right thing -- they're sick; they want to go to the doctor; they don't want to spread this disease -- are now standing and thinking about when ICE is going to deport them.

So one of the things that we have to do is to make sure that everybody feels comfortable getting the health care that they need. That should be a general principle, above and beyond the coronavirus.

Second of all, we've got to end these terrible ICE raids, which are terrorizing communities all over this country.

And thirdly, to answer your question, the time is long overdue for this country to move to comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for those 11 million undocumented. And furthermore, on day one as president, I would restore the legal status of the 1.8 million...

BASH: Senator -- Senator thank you...

SANDERS: young people of DACA.

BASH: We're going to talk about immigration in a minute. But first I want to ask about something that's going on right now, again, back to this crisis.

We know that people over the age of 60 and those with underlying medical conditions, especially heart disease, lung disease and diabetes, are the most vulnerable to coronavirus and are being asked to change their behavior to protect themselves.

So Senator Sanders, I'll start with you. You're 78 years old. You had a heart attack. What are you doing to protect yourself?

SANDERS: Well, a great deal. I mean, last night we had a -- a fireside chat, not a rally. I love doing rallies and we bring many thousands of people out to our rallies. I enjoy it very much. We're not doing that right now. In fact, our entire staff is working from home.

So on a personal level, what we're doing is I'm not shaking hands. Joe and I did not shake hands.

(LAUGHTER)

And I am very careful about the people I am interacting with. I'm using a lot of soap and hand sanitizers to make sure that I do not get the infection. And I have to say, you know, thank God, right now, I do not have any symptoms and I feel very grateful for that.

BASH: Vice President Biden, you're 77. What are you doing to protect yourself?

BIDEN: Well, fortunately, I don't have any of the underlying conditions you talked about that I have to worry about, number one.

Number two, thank God, for the time being -- anything can happen, as my mother would say, knock on wood, that I'm in good health.

Number three, I'm taking all the precautions anyone would take, whether they are 30 years old or 60 years old or 80 years old. And that is I'm going to make sure that I do not -- I do not shake hands any longer; I do not engage -- we did the same thing. Our staff is all working from home. We are not doing rallies any longer. We're doing virtual rallies. We're doing virtual town hall meetings.

We're in a situation where now I do not -- as I said, when we encounter people, we're not going into crowds. And so I'm taking all the precautions everyone else should be taking. I wash my hands God knows how many times a day with hot water and soap. I carry with me -- as a matter of fact, I have it in my bag outside here -- hand sanitizer. I don't know how many times a day I use that. I make sure I don't touch my face, and so on. So I'm taking all the precautions we're told for everybody else to take.

TAPPER: Let's turn to the race more broadly now. Throughout this campaign, you have each laid out starkly different visions for how to bring about change.

Vice President Biden, Senator Sanders is calling for a political revolution. You said people want results, not a revolution. Make the case for why a revolution is not what the country needs or wants.

BIDEN: We have problems we have to solve now -- now. What's a revolution going to do, disrupt everything in the meantime?

Look, Bernie talks about -- excuse me -- the senator talks about his Medicare For All. He still hasn't told you how he's going to ever get it passed. He hasn't told you how in fact there's any possibility of that happening. He hasn't told you how much it's going to cost. He hasn't told you how it's going to apply. It doesn't kick in for four years even after it passes.

We want a revolution, let's act now. Pass the Biden health care plan, which takes Obamacare, restores all the cuts made to it, subsidizes it further, provides for lower drug prices, makes sure that there's no hidden bills, makes sure that we invest -- what I want to invest, $50 billion in dealing with underlying diseases that are of great consequence, diabetes, Alzheimer's and cancer. Make sure that we have a Medicare option that's in a -- a public option providing Medicare for us.

We can do that now. I can get that passed. I can get that done, if I'm president of the United States of America. That will be a fundamental change, and it happens now.

I can tell you from experience, being a significant consumer of health care, with my sons, my family, all the things we've gone through, what people want is hope, and they need it now, not four years from now. And Bernie still hasn't cost -- told us how he's going to pay for it. We're talking about a...

SANDERS: Not quite true.

BIDEN: ... 30-plus trillion dollar plan.

SANDERS: Not quite true.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Look, let's do something that is very rarely done in the Congress.

[20:40:00]

BIDEN: OK.

SANDERS: Let's do something that the media doesn't do. Let's talk about the reality of American life. Why is it that, over the last 45 years, despite the huge increase in productivity and technology, the average worker today is not making a nickel more in real dollars?

Why is it that, over the last 30 years, the richest 1 percent have seen a $21 trillion increase in their wealth; the bottom half of America, a $900 billion decline in their wealth?

Why is that we are the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right?

Why are we the only major country not to have paid medical and family leave?

Why do we give tax breaks to billionaires when half a million people are homeless today?

And it comes down to something, Jake, we don't talk about, the power structure in America. Who has the power?

And I'll tell you who has the power. It's the people who contribute money, the billionaires who contribute money to political campaigns, who control the legislative agenda. Those people have the power.

And if you want to make real changes in this country; if you want to create an economy that works for all, not just the few; if you want to guarantee quality health care to all, not make $100 billion in profit for the health care industry, you know what you need?

You need to take on Wall Street; you need to take on the drug companies and the insurance companies and the fossil fuel industry. You don't take campaign contributions from them. You take them on and create an economy that works for all.

BIDEN: You want to do that, do what I proposed over 30 years ago. Federally fund all elections, no private contributions in the election process. If you want to do that, join me. Join me and my constitutional amendment that I've been proposing. Maybe you and I can work on that together. Because that would fundamentally change it.

And the complication is I'm getting these -- I've not accepted a contribution from anybody over $2,800, number one. My average contribution is $44. Just this month I've raised $33 million, average contribution, $51. The idea that this is -- Bernie's implication is somehow I'm being funded by millionaires.

Bernie, look, in the last -- in Super Tuesday and before that, Bernie outspent me two, three, four, five, six to one. And I still won. I didn't have any money. And I still won.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: It's good that you had an idea 30 years ago. I don't want to join you. Why don't you join me?

Why don't you get rid of the SuperPAC that you have right now -- which is running very ugly negative ads about me, by the way...

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: Don't laugh, Joe. That's just the truth.

(LAUGHTER)

And they've got two other SuperPACs runnings ads against us.

Why don't you just say, right now -- go on television and say, "Hey, you know what" -- I think, in the past, Joe, if I'm not mistaken, you condemned SuperPACs. Is that correct?

BIDEN: You get rid of the nine Super PACs you have?

SANDERS: I don't -- nine...

(LAUGHTER)

I don't have any SuperPACs.

BIDEN: You have nine. Do you want me to list them?

SANDERS: No -- yeah. You go ahead and list them.

BIDEN: OK. Come on. Give me a break. Come on.

SANDERS: No, I won't give you a break on this one, Joe. You condemn SuperPACs. You've got a SuperPAC is running negative -- but here's the point. This is the point. In the richest country in the history of the world, half of our people should not be struggling to put food on the table.

And the reason for that is you have a political structure in which big money interests not only dominate the political system but dominate our economy as well. Somebody makes a decision we're going to shut down a factory in America; we're going to move to China; we're going to move to Mexico, pay people starvation wages there.

This is an issue that has got to be ultimately deal with. Who has the power in America? Are we content with so few exercising so much power when so many people have given up on the political process?

BIDEN: I proposed a significant change in the tax code and I've been proposing it for a long, long time, number one.

Number two, it's not just about taxing the super-wealthy. It's about making sure everybody pays their fair share. For example, I can pay for my whole health care plan by changing the way in which we deal with capital gains. People should pay their capital gains based on what their income tax is and not 20 percent.

That would raise $800 billion, pay for my entire medical health care plan, which would cover everyone.

The fact of the matter is, everything I call for, I pay for. And I do not believe, and I have not supported these exorbitant tax cuts for the wealthy. I strongly opposed the -- the tax cut that this president has put through of $1.9 trillion. And I said at the time this was all about trying to eliminate the safety net.

Look, the idea that Bernie implies, the way he says things, speaking of negative ads, my Lord, Bernie, you're running an ad saying I'm opposed to Social Security, that Politifact says is a flat lie, and that The Washington Post said is a flat lie.

SANDERS: Oh, well, let me ask you a question, Joe.

BIDEN: Yeah.

SANDERS: You're right here with me.

BIDEN: Yeah.

SANDERS: Have you been on the floor of the Senate -- you were in the Senate for a few years...

BIDEN: Yep.

[20:45:00]

SANDERS: ... time and time again talking about the necessity -- with pride -- about cutting Social Security, cutting Medicare, cutting veterans' programs.

BIDEN: No.

SANDERS: You never said that?

BIDEN: No.

SANDERS: All right. America, go to the website right now. Go to the YouTube right now. Time after time -- you were not a fan of Bowles- Simpson?

BIDEN: I was not a fan of Bowles...

SANDERS: You were not a fan of the Balanced Budget Amendment, which called for cuts in Social Security?

Come on, Joe, you were.

BIDEN: Look, here's the deal.

SANDERS: You're an honest guy. Why don't you just tell the truth here? We all make mistakes.

BIDEN: No, I am telling the truth. You said that I in fact -- why am I rated 96 percent by the Social Security organizations?

Why am I viewed as a strong supporter...

SANDERS: All that I said...

BIDEN: I have laid out how I will increase Social Security.

SANDERS: Well, that's good. I laid that out...

BIDEN: I have laid out how I'm going to make sure...

SANDERS: OK, let me...

BIDEN: ... that it is in fact paid for.

SANDERS: Jake...

BIDEN: Go to joebiden.com, look at my exchange with Paul Ryan on his desire to try to privatize and/or cut Social Security...

SANDERS: OK.

BIDEN: ... and understand how he manipulated an ad.

SANDERS: No -- all right. Let me repeat it again. I want you just to be straight with the American people. I am saying that you have been on the floor of the Senate, time and time again, talking about the need to cut Social Security, Medicare and veterans' programs. Is that true or is that not true?

BIDEN: No, it's not true.

SANDERS: That is not true?

BIDEN: That is not true.

What is true is, in terms of the negotiations that are taking place, how to deal with the deficit, everything was on the table. I did not support any of those cuts, in Social Security or in veterans' benefits...

SANDERS: Whoa -- whoa -- you -- everything was on the table. All right. You're right. You just said it -- including, in your judgment, cuts to Social Security and veterans...

BIDEN: In order to get the kinds of changes we need on other things related...

SANDERS: Joe, then you just...

BIDEN: But we didn't -- but we did not cut it. I did not vote for it.

SANDERS: I know, because people like me helped stop that.

BIDEN: Oh, come on, Bernie.

SANDERS: But, Joe, you just contradicted yourself.

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: Joe, you just contradicted yourself. One minute...

(CROSSTALK) BIDEN: Excuse me. One minute you said "I was not on the floor." The next minute you say, "Well, yes, there was a reason why I was worried about the deficit."

Maybe that's good reason, maybe it's not. All that I am saying is you were prepared to cut and advocated for the cuts of programs...

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: So let me...

BIDEN: I did not. I never voted to cut Social Security.

SANDERS: I'm not talking about voting, Joe. That's not what I said.

BIDEN: I never voted -- well, look, I voted to protect it. I was -- just go look at the debate with Paul Ryan for the vice presidency. Look at what I did.

And, Bernie, will you acknowledge your campaign took out of context that whole exchange between Paul Ryan. Are you saying Politifact is wrong? Are you saying...

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Well, believe me, The Washington Post, Politifact is wrong a whole lot of times. But...

BIDEN: Are they wrong on that, Bernie? Are they wrong on that, Bernie?

SANDERS: Joe...

BIDEN: Bernie, did you...

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Did -- Joe, wait a minute. I'll answer your question. You answer mine.

BIDEN: I answered yours.

SANDERS: No, you didn't.

BIDEN: All right.

SANDERS: One more time. Were you on the floor, time and time again, for whatever reason, talking about the need to cut Social Security and Medicare and veterans' programs?

BIDEN: No, I did not talk about the need to cut any of those programs.

SANDERS: OK. All that I would say to the American people, go to YouTube. It's all over the place. Joe said it many, many times. And I'm surprised -- you know, you can defend or change your mind on it, but you can't deny the reality.

BASH: So, Senator, because you brought up Social Security and you have been talking about it, I want to ask you about something that you wrote in 1996. You were a member of the House and you wrote an op-ed that said, quote, "It is clear we will have to make incremental adjustments in Social Security taxes and benefits."

SANDERS: Yeah.

BASH: Why are your past comments any less relevant than the vice president's?

SANDERS: Incremental adjustments. What I advocated -- adjustments that I advocated and have advocated for years is among other things increasing the cost of living assistance.

No, you're not going to find me ever calling for cuts to Social Security. Right now, for example, we determined (inaudible) looking at inflation for the general population rather than segregating the higher costs that seniors are paying for prescription drugs and for health care. That's what I was talking about.

I have -- in fact, when Joe and others were enamored with the so- called Bowles-Simpson, which included cuts to Social Security or raising the retirement age, I formed, along with people like Barbara Boxer, the Defending Social Security Caucus to say, no, when 20 percent of our seniors are trying to get by on $13,000 a year or more, we are not going to cut Social Security.

CALDERON: Vice President Biden, yesterday you endorsed an Elizabeth Warren plan that would undo key parts of the bankruptcy law you helped pass in 2005. A few hours ago, you announced support for making public college tuition-free for families who make less than $125,000 a year, something Senator Sanders has supported. What changed?

BIDEN: Two things. Number one, let's talk about the bankruptcy bill.

[20:50:00]

The bankruptcy bill was passing overwhelmingly, and I improved it. I had a choice, it was going to pass, Republican president, Republican Congress, and I offered two amendments to make sure that people under $50,000 would not be affected and women and children would go to the front of the line on alimony and support payments. That's what I did. It passed overwhelmingly. I did not like the rest of the bill, but I improved it, number one.

Number two, I've talked with Senator Warren about her proposal. This is the first opportunity we've had to make substantial change in what we couldn't get done in a Republican administration. That's why we talked last -- two nights ago, and I supported her proposal. And it's a good proposal, it's a solid proposal. And she should get credit for having introduced it.

With regard to what we're talking about in terms of college education, I've been saying for a long time that we're in a position where 12 years of education is not enough, is not enough for the 21st century. We need 16 years of education. The exact bill that the -- that Senator Sanders introduced of -- I guess a little over a year ago, capping it off at $125,000 in income, you could get free up to that point, after that, you'd have to pay for your college education, it'd only work for public schools and it would work for public universities in your state. I support that idea.

It was a good idea. And I support it. And so that's -- that's what it is. And I'm not saying everything Bernie said has been wrong. He happens to be right on that one.

CALDERON: Senator Sanders, I assume you welcome these changes?

SANDERS: Look, this is a little bit about leadership, as well. Joe talked about bankruptcy. Joe, if I memory is correct, you helped write that bankruptcy bill.

BIDEN: I did not.

SANDERS: All right.

BIDEN: I did not.

SANDERS: And that bankruptcy bill -- by the way, we talk about education, we've got 45 million people in America struggling with student debt. Some of them really struggling with student debt. And that bankruptcy bill made it impossible or very difficult for people to escape from that student debt. It was a very, very bad bill.

You said, Joe, that a majority of the people in the Senate voted for it. You're right.

BIDEN: Overwhelming majority.

SANDERS: Overwhelmingly. Well, I voted against it in the House and I was right. And I don't have to rethink my position, because that's what leadership is about, having the guts to take an unpopular vote.

But it's not just bankruptcy. The difference between Joe and I on higher education is, four years ago, it was not a popular idea, Joe. Glad you're coming around now. Four years ago, when I said that public colleges and university should be tuition free, people were saying, Bernie, that's a radical idea. Well, you got states and cities and counties all over the country that are moving in that direction.

And I'm glad that Joe is on board. But what leadership is about is going forward when it's not popular, when it's an idea that you get criticized for. So I'm proud of that fact, and I'm proud of my leadership on many issues. Joe, since the campaign, has come around. I talked about raising that minimum wage $15 bucks an hour four years ago, Joe.

BIDEN: So did I. And I went out and campaigned for it.

SANDERS: Fifteen dollars an hour? BIDEN: Fifteen dollars an hour. New York City. Go talk to the governor.

SANDERS: I will talk to the governor.

BIDEN: All right?

SANDERS: I am not aware of that. I am not aware of that.

BIDEN: You should be aware. Look...

SANDERS: Four years ago, it was a radical idea. Very few people in Congress were talking about it.

BIDEN: I wasn't in...

CALDERON: Go ahead, Vice President.

BIDEN: Well, here, look. Let's get something straight about the bankruptcy bill. The bankruptcy bill already -- it did not affect student debt for 90 percent, because the law had already been passed. You could not declare bankruptcy for those loans that were from private institutions. You couldn't do it. And so the bankruptcy bill didn't affect that. It affected 10 percent of the people, the first bankruptcy bill, 10 percent of the student loans, number one.

Number two, now we're in a position where we're able to correct that problem. The fact is if I hadn't stepped up and changed the law as it relates to people making less than $50,000, those for alimony and child support, then, guess what, they would have been in the bucket, too. It was going to pass anyway. I made it -- let me finish. I made it incrementally better. I did not like the bill. I did not support the bill. And I made it clear to the industry I didn't like the bill.

Number two, this bill now calls for the opportunity to fundamentally change the mistakes we couldn't correct in the bill the first time around. And that is why I support Elizabeth Warren's idea. And it's a very good idea.

CALDERON: Senator Sanders, go ahead.

SANDERS: Well, this is kind of circular logic. We're going to reform the bill that I voted for. Well, if you hadn't voted for it, and if you had rallied other people, as I tried to do in the House voting against it, we might not have the problems with it we have today.

You know, what leadership is about, Joe, and it deals with -- you know, whether your opposition -- or your support, I should say, for legislation -

[20:55:00]

for legislation regarding gay communities in the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. You remember that bill, right? You remember the Defense of Marriage Act? BIDEN: I sure do.

SANDERS: It was -- you know, gay marriage today is considered a Little bit differently than it was 25 years ago. I remember that vote. It was a very hard vote. I voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. You voted for it. I voted against the bankruptcy bill. You voted for it. I voted against the war in Iraq, which was also a tough vote. You voted for it.

I voted against disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA and PNTR with China, which cost this country over 4 million good-paying jobs. You voted for it. I voted against the Hyde amendment, which denies low- income women the right to get an abortion. You have consistently voted for it. I don't know what your position is on it today, but you have consistently voted for it.

In other words, all that I'm saying here, we can argue about the merits of the bill.

CALDERON: Vice President Biden...

SANDERS: It takes courage sometimes to go do the right thing.

BIDEN: You can argue about the past or the future. This man voted against the Brady bill five times, background checks, background checks, five times, number one.

Number two, this man is the only -- one of the few Democrats I know who voted to exempt the gun industry from being able to be sued. Talk about a special, special interest. We can sue -- we should be able to sue drug companies. We should be able to sue tobacco companies. We cannot sue the gun manufacturers because he voted for that years ago. He says it was a mistake now. I'm prepared to accept he says it's a mistake. The question is, what do we do from this point on?

And by the way, I might add, I'm the first person to go on national television in any administration and say I supported gay marriage. I supported gay marriage when asked. And I -- so -- and it started a ripple effect. I'm not taking all credit for it, but I'm the first major player to say I support gay marriage on national television.

SANDERS: All that I'm saying here is...

BIDEN: Leadership.

SANDERS: ... we can argue, you know, this or that bill. But what I'm suggesting is that, in this time of crisis, when we're living in a really, really unsettling world, economically, from a health care with the coronavirus, the people of America know my record, OK? For 30 years, I have stood with the working families of this country. I have taken on every special interest there is out there. And that is what I will do in the White House. That's a very different record than Joes.

BIDEN: That is not a different record than mine. SANDERS: That is a totally different record than yours, all right? I mean, it's manifested in this campaign when you're, you know, getting all this money from, you know, wealthy people and billionaires. So I think if -- if you want somebody who will take to the White House what I have done for my whole life...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: ... and that is take on special interests, I think I'm that candidate.

BIDEN: The average campaign contribution, $44 dollars.

TAPPER: Let's talk about the future, Vice President Biden. If you become the Democratic presidential nominee, how will you appeal to supporters of Senator Sanders when you do disagree on so many issues?

BIDEN: He's making it hard for me right now. I was trying to give him credit for some things. He won't even take the credit for things he wants to do.

Look, I think that -- I want to make it clear. If Bernie is the nominee, I will not only support him, I will campaign for him. And I believe the people who support me will do the same thing, because the existential threat to the United States of America is Donald Trump. It's critical. I would hope that Bernie would do the same thing if I'm the nominee and encourage all of his followers to, in fact, support me, as well, because it's much bigger than either of us.

Character of the nation is on the ballot. It goes well beyond whether or not -- Senator Sanders and I both agree we need Medicare -- health care should be a right, not a privilege. We both agree we have to give -- deal with student debt. We both agree we have to deal with education and access to education. We both agree that we deal -- we have a new green deal to deal with the existential threat that faces humanity.

We disagree on the detail of how we do it. But we don't disagree on the principle. We fundamentally disagree with this president on everything. This is a man who wants to cut Social Security, cut Medicare, not -- not Bernie, the president of the United States.

So this is much bigger than whether or not I'm the nominee or Bernie is the nominee. We must defeat Donald Trump. He is the -- four more years of Donald Trump will fundamentally change the nature of who we are as a nation. We've got to restore this country's soul. That's essential. And as long as this president is there, we're not going to be able to do it.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders, if...

SANDERS: Can I just say a word, then I'll respond to your...

TAPPER: Well, it's just a quick question, which is, if he is the nominee, Vice President Biden, you've already said you would support him. SANDERS: Of course.

TAPPER: But will you campaign for him?

SANDERS: Sure.

TAPPER: Will you urge supporters to support him?

SANDERS: Look, on day one, when I announced my candidacy, what I said is this country

[21:00:00]

cannot deal with a president who is a pathological liar, who is running a corrupt administration and obviously doesn't know the Constitution of the United States, who believes is above the law, who is a racist and a sexist and a homophone. He is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.

And what I said on day one, Joe, day one, that obviously I hope to win the nomination, but if I don't win the nomination, I -- and I think every over Democratic candidate -- is prepared to come together to do everything humanly possible to defeat Donald Trump.

But let me respond to something that Joe said. You know, we talk about the Green New Deal and all of these things in general terms, but details make a difference. What I have said throughout this campaign -- and I don't think I've heard you say this, Joe, is that if we're going to -- if we're going to save this planet for our kids and future generations, we need to have the courage to take on the greed of the fossil fuel industry and make it clear to them that their short-term profits are not more important than the future of this planet. And we have a very detailed planet -- detailed proposal. Happy to get the endorsement of the Sunrise Movement, the young people...

TAPPER: We're -- we're going to get into the Green New Deal.

SANDERS: OK.

TAPPER: We're going to talk about climate change. We have to squeeze in a quick break. When we come back, the CNN-Univision presidential debate will return. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:07:10]

BASH: Welcome back to the CNN-Univision Democratic presidential debate, live from Washington, D.C. And as we noted, Arizona will vote on Tuesday. We solicited questions from undecided Democratic voters there. One is from Amy Langenfeld, who is a law professor from Chandler, Arizona, with a question for Senator Sanders.

QUESTION: Women are the canaries in the coalmine of the conservative agenda. Our access to health care is at risk from the Federalist Society's remaking of the courts. Our lives are threatened by abusive partners' access to guns. Women are disproportionately affected by bail requirements (ph), Social Security cuts, and cuts to public education. How will your cabinet ensure the best advice on issues that affect women's physical and financial health? Thank you.

SANDERS: My cabinet, my administration will look like America. Last I heard, over half of the people in America are women. And that will be the representation in my cabinet and my administration.

And in terms of policies, unlike Joe, I have consistently believed and have a 100 percent lifetime voting record from groups like NARAL, that it is a woman's right to control her own body, not the government.

I have believed that we have got to move aggressively to deal with domestic violence in this country. I have aggressively -- and I think effectively -- made the case that we cannot have women in America earning 80 cents on the dollar compared to men. And if you're a minority woman, it's 50 or 60 cents on the dollar.

We need to have universal, affordable, high-quality childcare, so women who are single or married can go off to work and know that their kids are going to be well taken care of. So I think if you look at my agenda, which is on berniesanders.com, what you will find, it is a very strong agenda in fighting for the rights of women who today are under incredible political assault by Trump and Republican governors all across this country.

BASH: Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: Am I able to respond to that?

BASH: Please.

BIDEN: Yes, thank you. Number one, I agree with -- with the question of the -- the underlying premise of Amy's question. Number one, I committed that if I'm elected president, have an opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, will be -- I'll appoint the first black woman to the courts. It's required that they have representation now. It's long overdue.

Secondly, if I'm elected president, my -- my cabinet, my administration will look like the country. And I commit that I will, in fact, appoint a -- I'll pick a woman to be vice president. There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I would pick a woman to be my vice president.

Number three, I'm the guy that wrote the domestic violence law. And I'm the guy that put in the prohibitions that no one who abuses someone else should be able to own a gun, period. They should not be able to own a gun. I would get the boyfriend exception amended now. I've gotten it passed that if you are -- got a stay away order from a court, you have a child with someone, that you cannot own a gun. No one should be able to own a gun who has abused a woman, period.

BASH: Mr. Vice President, if I could just follow up, just to be clear, you just committed here tonight that your running mate, if you get the nomination, will be a woman? BIDEN: Yes.

SANDERS: Let me...

BASH: Senator Sanders, will you make that same statement?

SANDERS: May I just respond and ask Joe a question?

BASH: Please.

SANDERS: Right now, a woman's right to control her own body is under massive assault, unpredictable assault.

BIDEN: It is.

SANDERS: Joe, you have in the past on more than one occasion voted for the

[21:10:00]

Hyde amendment, which says that a woman, low-income woman, could not use Medicaid funding for an abortion. Is that still your view? Or have you modified it?

[21:10:00]

BIDEN: It's not my view. And by the way, everybody who has been in the Congress voted for the Hyde Amendment at one point or another because it was locked in other bills.

The reason why I affirmatively came out opposed to the Hyde Amendment was that if we're going to have public funding for all health care along the line, there's no way you could allow for there to be a requirement that you have Hyde Amendment, a woman who doesn't have the money could not have coverage under health care.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Well, I'm glad...

BIDEN: Number two -- and I've done that -- I did that a while ago, OK? Number one.

Number two, I would send immediately to the desk of the United States Congress, when I'm elected president -- if I'm elected president, a codification of Roe v. Wade amended by Casey, because I think it is a woman's right to choose. I think it's a woman's opportunity to be able to make that decision. And, in fact, I have gotten 100 percent rating from NARAL as well.

BASH: Senator Sanders, before we move on, I just want to get you to respond.

SANDERS: Excuse me, you have a lifetime 100 percent voting record from NARAL?

BIDEN: I know my record of late from NARAL has been 100 percent. I don't know whether it was 25 years ago.

SANDERS: Well, all right. I mean, I think one of the differences, not to, you know, pick a bone here, is I have been consistent. All right? I have always believed in that. And you have not. I'm glad you have changed your views.

BASH: Senator, just to be clear, the vice president committed to picking a woman as his running mate. If you get the nomination, will you?

SANDERS: In all likelihood, I will. For me, it's not just nominating a woman, it is making sure that we have a progressive woman and there are progressive women out there. So my very strong tendency is to move in that direction.

CALDERON: Let's turn now to immigration. Vice President Biden, you have recently said for the first time that the Obama-Biden administration made a big mistake in deporting millions of immigrants, but you didn't publicly speak out against it at the time. What commitment will you make tonight that as president you won't deport millions again?

BIDEN: Number one, I said that it took much too long to get it right. And the president did get it right by DACA as well as making sure that he tried to protect parents as well, and, by the way, moving on an immigration bill as well. The fact is that we already had a vote on an immigration bill, by the way, and Bernie voted against it, the immigration bill. Had he voted for it and it had passed, we would already have 6 million undocumented would be citizens as I speak right now.

But I will send to the desk immediately a bill that requires the access to citizenship for 11 million undocumented folks, number one. Number two, in the first 100 days of my administration, no one, no one will be deported at all. From that point on, the only deportations that will take place are commissions of felonies in the United States of America.

CALDERON: So to be clear, only felons get deported and everyone else gets to stay?

BIDEN: Period, yes. Yes, and the reason is...

CALDERON: Senator Sanders?

BIDEN: ... it's about uniting families, it's about making sure that we can both be a nation of immigrants as well as a nation that is decent.

SANDERS: Let me respond and I'll answer your question, respond to what Joe's comments about the 2007 immigration bill. That bill was opposed by LULAC, the largest Latino organization in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center called its guest worker programs akin to slavery.

There wasn't really a vote on the bill. It was killed because there was a vote on the Doggett Amendment, I think it was 49-48, and you know who voted with me on that one, Joe? Barack Obama. He understood that that proposal was a bad idea. We don't need slavery in America where workers -- guest workers are forced to stay with their employers.

But in terms of immigration in general, let me outline some of the things that we do. Day one, we restore the legal status of 1.8 million young people and their parents in the DACA program. Number two, immediately, we end these ICE raids which are terrorizing communities all over this country. Three, we change the border policy. Under my administration, no federal agent will ever grab little babies from the arms of their mothers. And, fourth, I think we can pass what the American people want and that is comprehensive immigration reform, a path towards citizenship for the 11 million undocumented.

CALDERON: Senator Sanders, critics suggest positions like this send a message that when a Democrat is in the White House, the border is open. Do they?

SANDERS: No, that's just -- I mean, that's what Trump says. And that is a total lie. What we're talking about is a humane, sensible policy supported by the American people. Nobody is talking about open borders. And, of course, Trump lies a about that.

But the bottom line is right now you have in this country people who have been here for decades.

[21:15:00]

They are working hard. They are raising their kids. They are an important part of our agricultural economy, our construction economy. These are good people. And yet they are living in terror. And we have got to end that terror and end the ICE raids and move toward a path towards citizenship.

BIDEN: Let me set the record straight on something that was said. You know, the idea that it was slavery, Barack Obama supported that bill -- that immigration bill. Teddy Kennedy supported that immigration bill. I supported it. I doubt whether those people think it's slavery.

SANDERS: Well...

BIDEN: And by the way, right after his vote against that, he went on the Lou Dobbs show and continued the canard that they're taking jobs, these immigrants are taking jobs from Americans, which is one of the Republican canards, right after that vote -- that no vote.

And so, come on, this is -- you think Ted Kennedy is for slavery? Think I was for slavery? You think...

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: ... voted for it for slavery? And with regard to your issue -- your question relative to whether or not I would deal with supporting the border. Look, we can deal with securing the border by national technical means. All the bad things are coming through ports of entry right now. We don't need a wall.

And by the way, I would immediately as president surge to the border. I would end this notion for the first time in history that people seeking asylum have to be in squalor on the other side of the river, and in just desperate situation. They should be able to come to the United States and have a judgment made as to whether or not they qualify.

I would also surge to the border immigration judges to make decisions immediately. And no one, no one would be put in jail while waiting for their hearing.

CALDERON: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Well, it's kind of what I have been saying throughout the entire campaign.

BIDEN: So have I.

SANDERS: What we need is, at the border, hundreds of administrative judges. We need to deal with people who are seeking asylum based on international law. We need not to be dividing children from their parents and dividing families up. We need a humane border policy.

And I'll tell you what else we need. And I speak as the son of an immigrant. My father came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket, couldn't speak English, didn't have much of an education. I will end on day one the demonization, the ugly demonization from the White House of the immigrant community in this country. We have got a president who is trying to divide us up. My administration brings our people together, black and white and Latino, Native American, Asian-American.

CALDERON: Thank you, Senator Sanders.

Vice President Biden, you opposed sanctuary cities as a presidential candidate in 2007. Where do you stand now? Should undocumented immigrants, arrested by local police, be turned over to immigration officials?

BIDEN: No.

CALDERON: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Of course not. Look, and one of the things that goes on when you have that process is that not only the psychological terror, and I have talked to these kids, kids are scared to death in America when they come from school that their mom or dad may not be there, maybe deported.

What we need to do is to end, and I will end this on day one, the ICE raids that have been so harmful to so many people. And we need to do again what the American people want us to do. I'm the son of an immigrant. This is a country significantly built by immigrant labor, built by slave labor. And what we have got to do is appreciate each other and end this demonization and divisiveness coming from the Trump administration.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Go ahead.

BIDEN: Look, we are a nation of immigrants. Our future rests upon the Latino community being fully integrated. Twenty-four out of every 100 children in school today from kindergarten through high school is a Latino. Right now, today. The idea that any American thinks it doesn't pay for us to significantly invest in their future is absolutely a bizarre notion, because if we do not invest, everything that the very wealthy are concerned about and the xenophobes are concerned about will, in fact, get worse, not better.

We should be embracing, bringing them in, just like what happened with the Irish immigrants after the famine, just what happened with the Italians, et cetera. We have been through this before. Xenophobia is a disease.

TAPPER: Thank you, Vice President Biden.

Let's move now to the climate crisis. I'm coming right to you, Senator Sanders. The World Health Organization calls the climate crisis a "health crisis" and warns that climate change could fuel the spread of infectious diseases. Can you point to specific measures in your climate plan that address that threat?

SANDERS: Well, of course we do. I mean, we -- look,

[21:20:00]

this is what the scientists are telling us, the same scientists who make your point there, Jake. What they are telling us is if we don't get our act together in the next seven or eight years, there would be irreversible damage done to this planet. We're talking about cities in America from Miami to New Orleans to Charleston, South Carolina, being under water.

We are talking about severe droughts, which will prevent farmers in the Midwest from growing the food that we need. We're talking about extreme weather disturbances, which hit Houston, Texas, Venice, Italy, just a few months ago. We are talking about the absolute need, and I want to hear Joe's position on this, this is not a middle of the ground thing. This is not building a few more solar panels or a few more wind turbines.

What this is about is transforming our energy system as quickly as we humanly can away from fossil fuel. It is insane that we continue to have fracking in America. It is absurd that we give tens of billions of dollars a year in tax breaks and subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. This has got to end and end now if we love our kids and future generations. TAPPER: Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: First thing that President Obama and I were summoned to the State Department -- excuse me, the Defense Department for was to meet with all the chiefs. The single greatest threat to our national security, they said, is climate change, the single greatest threat to our national security. Because as populations have to move because they can no longer live where they are, because their islands are sinking, because you saw what happened in Darfur with the change in weather patterns and the desert there. It causes war. It causes great migrations, great migrations. They said that's the single biggest problem.

Number two, there's an awful lot of people today who are, in fact, getting ill because of the changes in the environment, particularly up where Bernie lives, I'm not -- it has nothing to do with him, but having -- up in the Northeast because you have everything from beetle infestation and a whole range of things that are causing diseases as well in addition to eliminating foliage.

TAPPER: So, Vice President Biden, let me ask you then that the -- you talk about this being the number one crisis, they told you at the Pentagon.

BIDEN: Yes.

TAPPER: The price tag for your climate plan is about $1.7 trillion. That's about $14 trillion less than Senator Sanders wants to spend on this. Is your plan ambitious enough to tackle this crisis?

BIDEN: Yes, it is ambitious enough to tackle the crisis because what -- you go to joebiden.com, I lay out the first 13 things I would do immediately upon being elected.

Number one, we're going to once again reinstate all the cuts the president made in everything from the CAFE standards, how far automobiles can go, investing in light rail so that we take cars off the road, making sure we're in a position where we are now in a position that we put 500,000 charging stations in areas that, in fact, all new highways that we built.

Making sure that we spend $500 billion a year in the federal government paying for transportation, the vehicles we run. All of those being converted to be able to run on low carbon fuel and/or be able to run on no carbon fuel at all by having them move into a direction that is all, all carbon-free.

We can do these things. We can lay down the tracks where nothing can be changed by the next president or following president, the one beyond that.

In addition to that, we also have to -- I would immediately rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, which I helped put together. I would call the 100 nations -- over 100 nations, but the 100 major polluters to the United States in the first 100 days to up the ante and make it clear that, in fact, we would -- in fact, if they didn't, there would be a price to pay.

And lastly, I would be right now organizing the hemisphere and the world to provide $20 billion for the Amazon, for Brazil no longer to burn the Amazon so they could have forests -- they're no longer forests, but they could have farming, and say, this is what we're going to do. They absorb more carbon in the Amazon, and the region is burning now, than we emit in one entire year per year.

TAPPER: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: All well and good, but nowhere near enough. I mean, you mentioned we started this debate talking about a war-like situation in terms of the coronavirus. And we said we have to act accordingly. You said it. I think you're right. I said it. We have to act dramatically, boldly, if we're going to save lives in this country and around the world.

I look at climate change in exactly the same way. It's not a question of re-entering the Paris Accord. That's fine. Who cares. Not a big deal. The deal right now is do we have the courage? And this gets back to the point I'm trying to make all night long.

[21:25:00]

Do we take on the health care industry and tell them their profits are not more important than health care for all? Do we take on the fossil fuel industry?

Look, in terms of the fossil fuel industry, these guys have been lying. They've been lying for years like the tobacco industry lied 50 years ago. "Oh, we don't know if -- if fossil fuels, if oil and carbon emissions are causing climate change."

They knew. Exxon Mobil knew. They lied. In fact, I think they should be held criminally accountable.

But this, Jake, is an issue of enormous consequence. What Joe was saying goes nowhere near enough. It's not a question of money.

Give me a minute here. Let's -- we have time to talk about this. This is a world-changing event.

TAPPER: I understand. I just want to give him a chance to respond and then we can come back to you.

SANDERS: OK. All right. Let's stay on it.

TAPPER: We're staying on this issue.

BIDEN: Number one, no more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, no more drilling on federal lands, no more drilling, including offshore, no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends, number one. Number two, we're in a situation, as well, where we cannot -- we -- we

are able to move rapidly to change the dynamic in terms of what we can do to set in motion -- the fact that he says climate change, Paris Accord doesn't mean much -- we can get everything exactly right. We're 15 percent of the problem. Eight-five percent of the problem is over there. We need someone who can deal internationally. We need someone who can bring the world together again. We need someone who can move in a direction that, in fact, if you violate the commitment you make, you will pay an economic price for it, like what's happening in China. They're exporting coal, significant coal.

TAPPER: Thank you.

SANDERS: OK, look, obviously, the Paris Accord is -- is useful. But it doesn't go anywhere -- if you're laughing, Joe, then you're missing the point. This is an existential crisis.

BIDEN: Bingo.

SANDERS: You -- you -- you talk about -- you know, I'm talking about stopping fracking as soon as we possibly can. I'm talking about telling the fossil fuel industry that they are going to stop destroying this planet -- no ifs, buts and maybes about it. I'm talking about speaking to...

BIDEN: So am I.

SANDERS: Well, I'm not sure your proposal does that.

I'm talking about speaking to China, to Russia, to countries all over the world -- and in this moment, making the point that instead of spending $1.8 trillion on weapons of destruction designed to kill each other, maybe we should pool our resources and fight our common enemy, which is climate change.

I know your heart is in the right place, but this requires dramatic, bold action. We've got to take on the fossil fuel industry. Your plan does not do that.

BIDEN: My plan takes on the fossil fuel industry and it unites the world. You just got finished saying -- what's he going to do? He's going to bring these countries together, make it clear to them. I'm saying we bring them together, make them live up to their commitments. If they don't live up to their commitments, they pay a financial price for it. They pay an economic price for it.

Because we can do everything -- my -- my state is three feet above sea level. I don't need a lecture on what's going to happen about rising seas. I know what happens. I watch the whole DelMarVa peninsula, just like it is in South Carolina and the rest, something I know a little bit about.

I wrote the first climate change bill that was in the Congress, which Politifact said was a game-changer. I'm the guy who came along and said, with Dick Lugar, that we're going to trade -- we'll forgive your debt if you don't cut down your forest. I have been way ahead of this curve. This idea that, all of a sudden, Bernie found this out is amazing to me.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: No, Bernie didn't find it out. Bernie is listening to the scientists. And what, you know, you're talking about making countries around the world fulfill their commitments, those commitments are not enough.

What this moment is about, Joe, is that the scientists are telling us they underestimated the severity of the crisis. They were wrong. The problem is more severe.

So all that I'm saying right here is that we have -- we are fighting for the future of this planet, for the well-being of our kids and future generations. You cannot continue, as I understand, Joe believes, to continue fracking. Correct me if I am wrong. What we need to do right now is bring the world together, tell the fossil fuel industry that we are going to move aggressively to win solar, sustainable energies...

TAPPER: Thank you.

SANDERS: ... and energy efficiency.

BIDEN: Thank you, Senator.

BIDEN: No more -- no new fracking. And by the way, on the Recovery Act, I was able to make sure we invested $90 billion in making sure we brought down the price of solar and wind, that is lower than the price of coal. That's why not another new coal plant will be built. I did that, while you were watching, number one.

Number two, we're in a situation where we, in fact, have the ability to lay down the tracks where no one can change the -- change the dynamic. And that's why we should be talking about things like I have been talking about for years, high-speed rail, taking millions of automobiles off the road,

[20:30:00]

making sure that we move in a direction where no more -- no more drilling on federal lands, making sure that we invest in changing the entire fleet...

TAPPER: Thank you.

BIDEN: ... of the United States military to -- anyhow.

TAPPER: Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Senator Sanders, I want -- I want to talk to you about fracking. Because you want to ban fracking...

SANDERS: Yes.

TAPPER: ... which is a method of extracting natural gas. The shift towards natural gas and away from coal has resulted in reduced U.S. carbon emissions. So how can the U.S. transition to your targeted goal of zero emissions with fracking completely out of the picture?

SANDERS: Because we have to invest in an unprecedented way -- in an unprecedented way. You started off by saying that we're talking about a $13 trillion, $14 trillion investment. That is a lot of money. And I've been criticized for that. But I don't know what the alternative is, if we are playing for the future of this planet. So we've got to be dramatic. And what being dramatic is, massive investments in wind, in solar, under the -- in sustainable energies in general, in research and development, in making our buildings all over this country.

My state of Vermont and around this country have got a lot of old buildings. We can put millions and millions of people to work making our buildings energy-efficient, moving our transportation system to electricity.

So what we're talking about is a massive unprecedented investment. That is what the Green New Deal is about. I supported it. And I will fight to implement it.

TAPPER: Thank you so much, Senator Sanders.

We're going to be back with more from the CNN-Univision Democratic presidential debate. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:35:00]

TAPPER: Welcome back to the CNN-Univision Democratic presidential debate. On Tuesday voters in Arizona, Ohio, Illinois and Florida will cast their votes in the Democratic primary.

Here's Univision's Ilia Calderon.

CALDERON: Thank you, Jake.

Let's move now to foreign policy. Senator Sanders, there are about 1.5 million Cuban-Americans living in Florida right now. Why would they vote for you when they hear you praise a program of Fidel Castro, a dictator who jailed, tortured and killed thousands of Cubans?

SANDERS: I have opposed authoritarianism, whether it's in Cuba, whether it's in Saudi Arabia, whether it's in China or whether it is in Russia. That is my life record. I believe, unlike the president of the United States, in democracy, not authoritarianism, in Cuba or any place else.

What I believe right now, in this world, is that we are faced with a global crisis and a movement toward authoritarianism. That's what Putin in Russia is leading. That's what MBS in Saudi Arabia is leading.

And as president of the United States, unlike Donald Trump, I would put the flag down and say that, in this country and in this world, we have got to move toward democracy and human rights. That is my view and has always been my view.

CALDERON: To be clear, Senator Sanders, Cuba has been a dictatorship for decades. Shouldn't we judge dictators by the violation of human rights and not by any of their alleged achievements?

SANDERS: Well, I think you can make the same point about China. China is undoubtedly an authoritarian society, OK. But would anybody deny, any economist deny that extreme poverty in China today is much less than what it was 40 or 50 years ago? That's a fact. So I think we condemn authoritarianism, whether it's in China, Russia, Cuba, any place else. But to simply say that nothing ever done by any of those administrations had a positive impact on their people would, I think, be incorrect.

BIDEN: Vice President Biden, you have criticized Senator Sanders for praising Castro's education system. But in 2016 President Obama said Cuba made, quote, "a great progress in educating young people" and that its health care system "is a huge achievement that they should be congratulated for."

How is that different from what Senator Sanders has said?

BIDEN: He was trying to change Cuban policy so the Cuban people would get out from under the thumb of Castro and his brother, that is to change the policy so that we could in fact on -- impact on Cuba's policy by getting them opened up. That's what that was about.

But the praising of the Sandinistas, the praising of Cuba, the praising, just now, of China -- China is an authoritarian dictatorship. That's what it is. We have to deal with them because they're there. But the idea that they, in fact, have increased the wealth of people in that country -- it's been marginal, the change that's taken place. It is still -- they have a million Uighurs, a million Muslims in prison camps in the West. You see what's happening in Hong Kong today.

And by the way, the idea that he praised the Soviet Union, when it was the Soviet Union, about the things that they had done well -- they're an awful dictatorship killing millions and millions of people.

And in addition to that, we have a circumstance where, after the election was all over and we knew what -- what was done by -- by the Russians now, in interfering with our elections, this man voted against sanctioning Russia for interference in our elections.

[21:40:05]

BASH: Senator Sanders...

BIDEN: I don't get it.

SANDERS: Well, what you don't get -- and this is exactly what the problem with politics is about. All right, question. Did China make progress in ending extreme poverty over the last 50 years, yes or no?

BIDEN: That's like saying Jack the Ripper... SANDERS: No, it's not.

BIDEN: Yes, it is.

SANDERS: See, Joe, this is the problem.

BIDEN: Yes, it is.

SANDERS: This is the problem. We can't talk -- I know there's a political line. I understand. China's terrible and awful, nothing ever good, (inaudible). But the fact of the matter is China, of course, is an authoritarian society. It's what I just said.

BIDEN: It's a dictatorship.

SANDERS: That's what I just said five minutes ago, you know. And, by the way, you know, the question that was asked quoted Barack Obama. President Obama was more generous in his praise of what Cuba did in health care and education than I was. I was talking about a program 60 years ago, in the first year of the Castro revolution.

So the bottom line is that I think it's a little bit absurd -- if we're going to look at the world the way it is, of course, we are opposed to authoritarianism. And by the way, you know, before it was considered good policy, a good idea. I was condemning the dictatorship in Saudi Arabia when a lot of other people in Washington...

BIDEN: It wasn't me.

SANDERS: I was condemning the dictatorship in the UAE. You were not.

BIDEN: Yes, I was.

CALDERON: Thank you, Senator Sanders.

Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: Look, the idea of occasionally saying something nice about a country is one thing. The idea of praising a country that is violating human rights around the world is, in fact -- makes our allies wonder what's going on.

What do you think the South Koreans think when we -- or he praises China like that?

What do you think -- what do you think the Australians believe in the shadow of China?

What do you think is happening in Indonesia in the shadow of China?

What do you think is happening in terms of Japan in the shadow of China?

Words matter. These are flat-out dictators, period. And they should be called for it, straight up. We may have to work out -- for example, I was able to help negotiate a New START agreement with Russia, not because I like Putin. The guy's a thug.

TAPPER: Mr. Vice President, sticking with foreign policy, you acknowledge that your support and vote for the Iraq War was a mistake. What lessons did you learn from that mistake?

And how might those lessons influence your foreign policy decision- making as president?

BIDEN: I learned I can't take the word of a president when, in fact, they assured me that they would not use force. Remember the context. The context was the United Nations Security Council was going to vote to insist that we allow inspectors in to determine whether or not -- whether or not they were in fact producing nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction.

They were not. And what's the first thing that happened when we got elected?

President Obama turned to me and said, "Get those troops out of there."

I was responsible for getting 150,000 combat troops out of Iraq. I was -- I admitted 14 years ago it was a mistake to have trusted him. And I'm prepared to compare my foreign policy credentials up against my friend here on any day of the week and every day of the week.

BIDEN: Well, let's start off with the war in Iraq, Joe. I was there, too. I was in the House. I understood -- and, by the way, let's be clear about what that vote was. And you were there at the signing ceremony with Bush. Everybody in the world knew that, when you voted for that resolution, you were giving Bush the authority to go to war. And everybody knew that's exactly what he and Cheney wanted to do.

Most people who followed that issue closely understood that the Bush administration was lying through its teeth with regard to Saddam having weapons of mass destruction. I understood that. I was on the floor of the House time and time again.

But the issue is not just the war in Iraq. That was a long time ago. The issue is the trade agreement. It wasn't so easy for me to lead the effort against disastrous trade agreements. The issue was the bankruptcy bill that you supported. The issue was the Hyde amendment. The issue was the Defense of Marriage Act. The issue is whether or not, in difficult times, and God knows these are difficult times, we're going to have the courage to take on powerful special interests and do what's right...

TAPPER: Vice President Biden?

SANDERS: ... for working families in this country.

BIDEN: Why did you vote not to sanction the Russians?

SANDERS: I'll tell you. You know why? Because that -- you keep talking about Iran. That was tied to Iran. Russia was in Iran. I think John Kerry indicated his support for what I did. That was undermining the Iranian agreement. That's why.

BIDEN: That's not true. Our...

SANDERS: That's why, and that's the only reason why.

BIDEN: That is not...

SANDERS: I have condemned Russia time and time again.

TAPPER: Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: The fact is that -- the idea that I, in fact, supported the things that he's suggesting is not accurate. Look, I'm the guy that helped put together the Iran deal and got the inspectors in there. That was my -

[21:45:00]

my chief of staff was the guy, my foreign policy guy, doing that negotiation.

I was the guy that helped put together a 60-nation organization to take on the ISIS in Iraq and in Syria. I've dealt with these folks. I know them. And I know what they're like. And I know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.

The fact is this -- Bernie's notion about how he embraces folks like the Sandinistas and Cuba and the former Soviet Union and talks about the good things in China, it's absolutely contrary to every message we want to send the rest of the world.

TAPPER: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: I have led the effort against all forms of authoritarianism, including America's so-called allies in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia, and in fact, as you may know, work with conservative Republicans to utilize for the very first time the War Powers Act to get the United States out of the horrific war in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia. That's what I did. So my view is that in a world moving toward authoritarianism, the United States has got to be the leader where people all over the world look to us for guidance.

BASH: Thank you, Senator. Thank you, gentlemen. I want to change topics and ask each of you about some of your vulnerabilities in this election, starting with you, Vice President Biden. Senator Sanders has won more of the Hispanic vote than you in several key states so far. In fact, he doubled your support in California among Hispanics. He almost tripled it in Nevada. So why is your message not resonating with Hispanic voters?

BIDEN: Well, look, my message is resonating across the board. Every single state we've been in, there's been a significant turnout. In Virginia, turnout was up 70 percent. They voted for me. He didn't bring them out. I brought them out.

And, number two, look what's happened in Mississippi. Look what's happened in North Carolina. Look what's happened in Washington state. Look what's happened across the board. Why is it that I'm I winning all those places? What's the reason? What's the reason?

The reason is because they know I am a Democrat with a capital "D" who, in fact, believes that our base is the base of the Democratic Party, which are hard-working men and women, who, in fact, are high school educated, African-Americans and minorities, including Hispanics, but all minorities, suburban women, people who, in fact, have a sense of our place in the world. That's why I am winning -- not just winning, but overwhelmingly winning. Not even close in these places. And...

BASH: Senator...

SANDERS: Well, you didn't quite win...

BASH: Senator Sanders, Senator Sanders, let me just follow up with you about an issue that you're having. For the second consecutive presidential election, you're struggling to gain wide support from African-Americans. Why is your message not resonating with African- American voters?

SANDERS: Here is what I believe is happening. And this is an important point and why I decided to run for president. I think it's imperative that we defeat Trump. I think our campaign, of a biracial, bi-generational, multigenerational, grassroots movement is the way to do it.

Now, we have won some states. Joe has won more states than I have. But here's what we are winning. We are winning the ideological struggle. Even states in Mississippi, where Joe won a major victory, it turns out that a pretty good majority of the folks there believe in Medicare for all. And that's true in almost every state in this country.

And the other issue that we don't talk enough about is we are winning the generational struggle. Depending on the state, we're winning people 50 years of age or younger. Big time, people 30 years of age and younger. I, frankly, have my doubts.

Look, I -- if I lose this thing, Joe wins, Joe, I will be there for you. But I have my doubts about how you win a general election against Trump -- who will be a very, very tough opponent -- unless you have energy, excitement, the largest voter turnout in history.

And to do that, you are going to have to bring young people, who are not great voters. They don't vote in the kinds of numbers they should -- into the political process. You're going to have to bring Latinos, who are great people, who have the agenda that we need, but also don't vote in the numbers that we need. I have my doubts that Vice President Biden's campaign can generate that energy and excitement and that voter turnout.

BIDEN: I will do that. And by the way, just get this straight. The energy and excitement that's taken place so far has been for me, 70 percent turnout increase in Virginia. I can go down the list. They are coming out for me. And I didn't even have the money to compete with this man in those states. I virtually had no money. The press kept saying, Biden has no money. And they were right. Biden had no money.

And the idea, why are they doing that? The reason they're doing that is because they understand I know what has to happen, that I know what needs to be done. And by the way,

[21:50:00]

the idea that everybody supports Medicare for all, he still hasn't indicated how much it's going to cost people. He's yet to know exactly what's going to -- so here's my point. People don't know the detail at all. And the fact is...

BASH: Thank you, sir.

BIDEN: ... I am winning overwhelmingly among Democratic constituencies across the board.

BASH: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We're going to be right back with more from the CNN-Univision Democratic presidential debate. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to the CNN-Univision Democratic presidential debate.

[21:55:00]

Finally, gentlemen, thanks so much for everything. As we end here tonight, let's return to where we began, the coronavirus, which does not discriminate based on ideology, it does not care if one is a Democrat or a Republican, a conservative, a moderate or a progressive.

Senator Sanders, let me start with you. What's your closing message tonight for those who are concerned about, affected by, or dealing with the coronavirus?

SANDERS: Well, our hearts go out to everyone. We need to move aggressively to make sure that every person in this country who has the virus, who thinks they have the virus, understands they get all the health care that they need, because they are Americans, that we move aggressively to make sure that the test kits are out there, that the ventilators are out there, that the ICU units are out there, that the medical personnel are out there.

But, Jake, if I might also say, that in this moment of economic uncertainty, in addition to the coronavirus, it is time to ask how we get to where we are, not only our lack of preparation for the virus, but how we end up with an economy where so many of our people are hurting at a time of massive income and wealth inequality. It is time to ask this -- the question of where the power is in America.

Who owns the media? Who owns the economy? Who owns the legislative process? Why do we give tax breaks to billionaires and not raise the minimum wage? Why do we pump up the oil industry while a half-a- million people are homeless in America?

This is a time to move aggressively, dealing with the coronavirus crisis, to deal with the economic fallout. But it's also a time to rethink America and create a country where we care about each other rather than a nation of greed and corruption, which is what is taking place among the corporate elite.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Sanders.

Vice President Biden, what's your closing message tonight for those concerned about, affected by, or dealing with this virus?

BIDEN: Number one, as I said at the outset, I just can't imagine what people are going through right now who have lost someone already. I can't imagine what people are going through, when they have a mom -- for example, a good friend of ours is sitting outside the window of a nursing home where her mom is because she can't go in, trying to do sign language to her mom through the window to be able to talk to her. I can't imagine the fear and the -- I guess I can imagine the fear and concern people have.

Number one, one of the things that I think we have to understand is that this is an all hands on deck. This is -- as someone said, maybe it was you, Jake, at the outset, this is bigger than any individual. This is bigger than yourself. This is about America. This is about the world. This is about how we bring people together and make the kind of sacrifices we need to make to get this done.

And so, first and foremost, what we have to do is start to listen to the science again. As I said, what we did, we met -- what I'd be doing today, I'd be sitting down in the Situation Room literally every day, like we did at the outset of other crises we had when we were in the White House, and pulling together the best people, and not just in the United States, the world, and say, what is it -- what are the prescriptive moves we have to take now to lessen this virus, to beat it, to go to the point where we can save more lives, get more people tested, get more people the kind of care they need?

And then what do we do beyond that, to make sure that the economic impact on them is, in fact, rendered harmless, that we, in fact, make sure every paycheck is met, every paycheck that's out there, that the people are going to miss, that we keep people in their homes, that they don't miss their mortgage payments, they don't miss their rent payments, making sure that they're going to be able to take care of education, that they're -- and, by the way, the education systems are closing down right now.

And so there are so many things we have to do. And in addition to that, what we have to do is we have to have the best science in the world telling what can stay open and what need be closed. Like I said earlier, the idea that we're closing schools -- which I understand -- but not being able to provide lunches for people who, in fact, need the school lunch program to get by. The idea that we would close any place that -- I can understand the

decision made to close places where 100 or 50 people or more gather. But how do you keep open the drugstore to make sure you can get your prescription? How do you deal with the things that necessarily have to be kept going? And what's the way to do that? There should be a national standard for that. It should be coming out of the Situation Room right now.

And by the way, the single most significant thing we can do to deal with the larger problem down the road of income inequality is get rid of Donald Trump. Donald Trump, he's exacerbated every single one of these problems, both the immediate urgent need and how we're going to hold people harmless for the damage done as a consequence of this virus. It's important we do both.

TAPPER: Vice President Biden, Senator Sanders, we want to thank you both for being here tonight under these challenging and trying circumstances. We wish both of you the best.

Our thanks, as well, to our partners at Univision. For Ilia Calderon and Dana Bash, I'm Jake Tapper. Thank you so much for watching. Please stay healthy, stay safe. Our coverage of both tonight's debate and the coronavirus pandemic continues now with Anderson Cooper.

HOLT: Good evening, everyone. I'm Lester Holt. Welcome to Las Vegas.

Everything is on the line tonight, with just three days before the critical Nevada caucuses. Here with me on the stage tonight, NBC News political director and moderator of "Meet the Press," Chuck Todd. And NBC News chief White House correspondent and MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson. Also joining us is Telemundo senior correspondent Vanessa Hauc. And editor of the Nevada Independent Jon Ralston, who has covered Nevada politics for more than three decades.

The rules are this tonight. Candidates will get a minute and 15 seconds to answer each question and 45 seconds for follow-ups. Now that the stage is narrowed to six candidates, we encourage each of you to directly engage with each other on the issues.

So let's get to our first question. Since the last time you all shared the stage, Senator Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has surged into the lead nationally in the Democratic race. And there's a new person on the stage tonight, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican who spent millions of his own dollars to run in this race.

What hasn't changed: a majority of Democratic voters still say their top priority is beating President Trump. Senator Sanders, the first question to you. Mayor Bloomberg is pitching himself as a centrist who says he's best positioned to win in November. Why is your revolution a better bet?

SANDERS: In order to beat Donald Trump, we're going to need the largest voter turnout in the history of the United States. Mr. Bloomberg had policies in New York City of stop and frisk which went after African-American and Latino people in an outrageous way. That is not a way you're going to grow voter turnout.

What our movement is about is bringing working-class people together, black and white and Latino, Native American, Asian American, around an agenda that works for all of us and not just the billionaire class. And that agenda says that maybe, just maybe, we should join the rest of the industrialized world, guarantee health care to all people as a human right, raise that minimum wage to a living wage of $15 bucks an hour, and have the guts to take on the fossil fuel industry, because their short-term profits are not more important than the future of this planet and the need to combat climate change.

Those are some of the reasons we have the strongest campaign to defeat Donald Trump.

WARREN: So I'd like...

HOLT: Mayor Bloomberg, can Senator Sanders beat President Trump? And how do you want to respond to what else he said?

BLOOMBERG: I don't think there's any chance of the senator beating President Trump. You don't start out by saying I've got 160 million people I'm going to take away the insurance plan that they love. That's just not a way that you go and start building the coalition that the Sanders camp thinks that they can do. I don't think there's any chance whatsoever. And if he goes and is the candidate, we will have Donald Trump for another four years. And we can't stand that.

HOLT: Senator Warren?

WARREN: So I'd like to talk about who we're running against, a billionaire who calls women "fat broads" and "horse-faced lesbians." And, no, I'm not talking about Donald Trump. I'm talking about Mayor Bloomberg.

Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist polls like redlining and stop and frisk.

Look, I'll support whoever the Democratic nominee is. But understand this: Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.

(APPLAUSE)

This country has worked for the rich for a long time and left everyone else in the dirt. It is time to have a president who will be on the side of working families and be willing to get out there and fight for them. That is why I am in this race, and that is how I will beat Donald Trump.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: We've got to wake up...

HOLT: Senator Klobuchar -- Senator Klobuchar, what do you think the path is from this stage to the White House? What works?

KLOBUCHAR: I think the path is a high voter turnout. I'm the one on this stage that had the highest voter turnout of any state in the country when I led the ticket, as well as bringing in rural and suburban voters. And I've done that, as well. And I'm the only one with the receipts to have done that in Republican congressional districts over and over again.

But I want to say this: I actually welcomed Mayor Bloomberg to the stage. I thought that he shouldn't be hiding behind his TV ads, and so I was all ready for this big day. And then I looked at the memo from his campaign staff this morning, and it said that he actually thought that three of us should get out of the way. That is what his campaign said because we should "pave the way" for him to become the nominee.

You know, I have been told as a woman, as someone that maybe no one thought was still going to be standing up on this stage, but I am because of pure grit and because of the people out there, I've been told many times to wait my turn and to step aside. And I'm not going to do that now, and I'm not going to do that because a campaign memo from Mayor Bloomberg said this morning that the only way that we get a nominee is if we step aside for him.

I think we need something different than Donald Trump. I don't think you look at Donald Trump and say we need someone richer in the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

HOLT: Thank you. Mayor Bloomberg, there's a lot for you to respond to there, so here's your opportunity.

BLOOMBERG: I think we have two questions to face tonight. One is, who can beat Donald Trump? And, number two, who can do the job if they get into the White House? And I would argue that I am the candidate that can do exactly both of those things.

I'm a New Yorker. I know how to take on an arrogant conman like Donald Trump, that comes from New York. I'm a mayor or was a mayor. I know how to run a complicated city, the biggest, most diverse city in this country.

I'm a manager. I knew what to do after 9/11 and brought the city back stronger than ever. And I'm a philanthropist who didn't inherit his money but made his money. And I'm spending that money to get rid of Donald Trump, the worst president we have ever had. And if I can get that done, it will be a great contribution to America and to my kids.

(APPLAUSE)

HOLT: Vice President Biden, I'll let you weigh in here.

BIDEN: In terms of who can beat Donald Trump, NBC did a poll yesterday. It says Joe Biden is best equipped to beat Donald Trump.

(APPLAUSE)

That's what your poll said. And it said that I can beat him in those toss-up states, too, those states we have to win. I'm ahead by eight points across the board. So in terms of being able to beat Donald Trump, I'm better positioned, according to your poll, than anybody else to beat Donald Trump, number one.

(APPLAUSE)

Number two, the mayor makes an interesting point. The mayor says that he has a great record, that he's done these wonderful things. Well, the fact -- the fact of the matter is, he has not managed his city very, very well when he was there. He didn't get a whole lot done. He had stop and frisk, throwing close to 5 million young black men up against a wall. And when we came along in our administration, President Obama, and said we're going to send in a moderator to -- a mediator, stop it, he said that's unnecessary.

So I -- we're going to get a chance to talk about the mayor's record. But in terms of who is best prepared to beat Donald Trump, look at your poll and what it says.

HOLT: Mayor Buttigieg, you'd like to weigh in.

BUTTIGIEG: Yes, we've got to wake up as a party. We could wake up two weeks from today, the day after Super Tuesday, and the only candidates left standing will be Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg, the two most polarizing figures on this stage.

And most Americans don't see where they fit if they've got to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power.

Let's put forward somebody who actually lives and works in a middle-class neighborhood, in an industrial Midwestern city. Let's put forward somebody who's actually a Democrat. Look...

(APPLAUSE)

We shouldn't have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. We can do better.

HOLT: Senator -- Senator Sanders, are you polarizing?

SANDERS: If speaking to the needs and the pain of a long-neglected working class is polarizing, I think you got the wrong word. What we are trying finally to do is to give a voice to people who after 45 years of work are not making a nickel more than they did 45 years ago. We are giving a voice to people who are saying we are sick and tired of billionaires like Mr. Bloomberg seeing huge expansions of their wealth while a half-a-million people sleep out on the street tonight.

And that's what we are saying, Pete, is maybe it's a time for the working class of this country to have a little bit of power in Washington, rather than your billionaire campaign contributors.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: All right, look, first of all -- look, my campaign is fueled by hundreds of thousands of contributors.

SANDERS: Including 46 billionaires.

BUTTIGIEG: Among the hundreds of thousands of contributors. And, look, we've got to unite this country to deal with these issues. You're not the only one who cares about the working class. Most Americans believe we need to empower workers.

(APPLAUSE)

As a matter of fact, you're the one who is at war with the Culinary Union right here in Las Vegas. We can solve these issues...

SANDERS: We more union support than you have ever dreamed of. We have the support of unions all across this country.

BUTTIGIEG: Yeah, but the vision I'm putting forward has the support of the American people. We can actually deliver health care without taking it away from anyone. We can actually empower workers and lift wages without further polarizing this country. And we can build a movement without having legions of our supporters online and in person attacking Democratic figures and union leaders alike.

WARREN: I think it is important here...

JACKSON: Senator Warren, I have a question for you. On Sunday, on "Meet the Press," Vice President Biden accused Senator Sanders' supporters of bullying union leaders here with, quote, "vicious, malicious, misogynistic things." You said Democrats cannot build an inclusive party on a foundation of hate. Are Senator Sanders and his supporters making it harder for Democrats to unify in November?

WARREN: Look, I have said many times before, we are all responsible for our supporters. And we need to step up. That's what leadership is all about.

But the way we are going to lead this country and beat Donald Trump is going to be with a candidate who has rock-solid values and who actually gets something done. When Mayor Bloomberg was busy blaming African-Americans and Latinos for the housing crash of 2008, I was right here in Las Vegas, literally just a few blocks down the street, holding hearings on the banks that were taking away homes from millions of families.

That's when I met Mr. Estrada, one of your neighbors. He came in to testify, and he said he thought he'd done everything right with Wells Fargo, but what had happened? They took away his house in a matter of weeks. This man stood there and cried while he talked about what it was like to tell his two little daughters that they might not be in their elementary school, that they might be living out of their van.

I spent the next years making sure that would never happen again. Wall Street fought us every inch of the way on a consumer agency. They lost, and I won. We need a candidate with unshakable values and a candidate who can actually get something done for working people.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Thank you, Senator.

WARREN: That's why I'm in this race, and that's how I'll beat Donald Trump.

JACKSON: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: We have over 10.6 million people on Twitter, and 99.9 percent of them are decent human beings, are working people, are people who believe in justice, compassion, and love. And if there are a few people who make ugly remarks, who attack trade union leaders, I disown those people. They are not part of our movement.

But let me also say what I hope my friends up here will agree with is that if you look at the wild west of the internet, talk to some of the African-American women on my campaign. Talk to Senator Nina Turner. Talk to others and find the vicious, racist, sexist attacks that are coming their way, as well.

So I would hope that all of us understand that we should do everything we possibly can to end the viciousness and ugliness on the internet. Our campaign is about issues. It's about fighting for the working families and the middle class. It is not about vicious attacks on other people.

JACKSON: Senator, thank you.

BUTTIGIEG: Senator, when you say that you disown these attacks and you didn't personally direct them, I believe you.

SANDERS: Well, thank you.

BUTTIGIEG: But at a -- but at a certain point, you got to ask yourself, why did this pattern arise? Why is it especially the case among your supporters that this happens?

SANDERS: I don't think it is especially the case, by the way.

BUTTIGIEG: That's just not true. Look, people know the way your supporters treat them.

SANDERS: Well, Pete, if you want to talk to some of the women on my campaign, what you will see is the most ugly, sexist, racist attacks that are -- I wouldn't even describe them here, they're so disgusting.

And let me say something else about this, not being too paranoid. All of us remember 2016, and what we remember is efforts by Russians and others to try to interfere in our election and divide us up. I'm not saying that's happening, but it would not shock me.

I saw some of those tweets regarding the Culinary Workers Union. I have a 30-year 100 percent pro-union voting record. Do you think I would support or anybody who supports me would be attacking union leaders? It's not thinkable.

BUTTIGIEG: But leadership is about what you draw out of people. It's what -- it's about how you inspire people to act.

(APPLAUSE)

And right now, we're in this toxic political environment. Leadership isn't just about policy. I think at least in broad terms, we're largely pulling in the same direction on policy, but leadership is also about how you motivate people to treat other people.

I think you have to accept some responsibility and ask yourself what it is about your campaign in particular that seems to be motivating this behavior more than others, because in order to turn the page on the Trump era, we're going to need a president, not just a candidate who can win, but a president who can move us forward.

KLOBUCHAR: I have an idea -- I have an idea of how we can stop sexism on the internet. We could nominate a woman for candidate for president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

I think that might go a long way if we showed our stuff as a party.

And the other thing I'm going to talk about is really what is at the core of this issue between Senator Sanders and the Culinary Union, and that is this. These are hard-working people, housekeepers like Elizabeth and I met with last night, who have health care plans that have been negotiated over time, sweat and blood. And that is the truth for so many Americans right now.

JACKSON: Senator, thank you.

KLOBUCHAR: There are 149 million Americans that would lose their current health insurance under Senator Sanders' bill. That's what it says on page 8.

JACKSON: Senator, thank you.

KLOBUCHAR: And I don't think we should forget that.

JACKSON: On that note, I want to turn it over to my colleague, Chuck Todd.

TODD: Senator Sanders, I'm going to stay on this topic, on this issue with the Culinary Union. Obviously, their leaders are warning their members about -- that your health care plan will take away their health care plan, take away private insurance completely. There are some Democrats who like you a lot but worry that this plan, Medicare for all, is going to take away private insurance and that it goes too far. Are they right?

SANDERS: No. Let me be very clear, two points. For a hundred years, from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama, this country has been talking about the need to guarantee health care for all people. And yet today, despite spending twice as much per capita, Chuck, twice as much as any other major country on Earth, we got 87 million who are uninsured or underinsured, we got over 60,000 people who die every year because they don't get to a doctor on time.

We're getting ripped off outrageously by the greed and corruption of a pharmaceutical industry, which in some cases charges us 10 times more for the same drugs because of their price-fixing, 500,000 people go bankrupt every year because they can't afford medical bills.

So let me be very clear to my good friends in the Culinary Workers Union, a great union. I will never sign a bill that will reduce the health care benefits they have. We will only expand it for them, for every union in the America, and for the working class of this country.

(APPLAUSE)

TODD: Senator Warren, you were all in on Medicare for all, and then you have since came up with a transition plan. Is it because of the impact on unions?

WARREN: So I want to be clear. I've been to the Culinary Union's health care facilities. They're terrific. You don't want to shut them down. You want to expand them. You want to see them all across Nevada and all across this country.

But we need to get everybody's health care plan out here. Mayor Buttigieg really has a slogan that was thought up by his consultants to paper over a thin version of a plan that would leave millions of people unable to afford their health care. It's not a plan. It's a PowerPoint.

And Amy's plan is even less. It's like a Post-It note, "Insert Plan Here."

Bernie has started very much -- has a good start, but instead of expanding and bringing in more people to help, instead, his campaign relentlessly attacks everyone who asks a question or tries to fill in details about how to actually make this work. And then his own advisors say, yeah, probably won't happen anyway.

Look, health care is a crisis in this country. We need -- my approach to this is we need as much help for as many people as quickly as possible and bring in as many supporters as we can. And if we don't get it all the first time, take the win and come back into the fight to ask for more.

TODD: Guys, I'm going to get everybody in.

WARREN: People need our help on this.

TODD: I got you. Mayor Buttigieg, I think she name-checked you first. I'll let you go first.

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: She name-checked me second.

TODD: Yes, well, OK. I think Amy second.

BUTTIGIEG: I'm more of a Microsoft Word guy. And if you look at my plan, I don't know if there are any PowerPoints on it, but you can definitely find the document on peteforamerica.com. And you'll see that it is a plan that solves the problem, makes sure there is no such thing as an uninsured American, and does it without kicking anybody off the plan that they have.

This idea that the union members don't know what's good for them is the exact kind of condescension and arrogance that makes people skeptical of the policies we've been putting forward. Here we have a plan that the majority of Americans support. Do you realize how historic that is? That the American people are ready in a way far beyond what was true even 10 years ago and what was available to President Obama at the time. There's a powerful American majority ready to undertake the biggest, most progressive reform we've had in health care in 50 years, just so long as we don't force it on anybody. What is wrong with that?

WARREN: Could I respond to that?

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Let me go Senator Klobuchar, and then I'll have you respond.

KLOBUCHAR: OK.

TODD: All right, Senator Klobuchar.

SANDERS: I was (inaudible) through there.

TODD: Well, I think the Post-It note came first, Senator. I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

I do think the Post-It note came first.

KLOBUCHAR: I must say, I take personal offense since Post-It notes were invented in my state, so...

(LAUGHTER)

TODD: (inaudible) 3M.

KLOBUCHAR: OK. So my plan is a public option. And according to all the studies out there, it would reduce premiums for 12 million people immediately. It would expand coverage for about that same number. It is a significant thing. It is what Barack Obama wanted to do from the very beginning.

And the way I look at it, since we're in Vegas, when it comes to your plan, Elizabeth and Bernie's, on Medicare for all, you don't put your money on a number that's not even on the wheel. And why is Medicare for all not on the wheel? Why is it not on the wheel? Because two-thirds of the Democratic senators are not even on that bill, because a bunch of the new House members that got elected see the problems with blowing up the Affordable Care Act. They see it right in front of them.

And the truth is that when you see some troubled waters, you don't blow up a bridge, you build one. And so we need to improve the Affordable Care Act, not blow it up.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: You name-checked three of them. Let me get Senator Sanders in there.

SANDERS: I'm also attacked here.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Go ahead, Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: We'll get you in. We got a lot of people in here.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Some -- it's my turn, yeah?

TODD: Yes, sir.

SANDERS: Somehow or another, Canada can provide universal health care to all their people at half the cost. U.K. can do it. France can do it. Germany can do it. All of Europe can do it. Gee-whiz, somehow or another, we are the only major country on Earth that can't do it. Why is that?

And I'll tell you why. It's because, last year, the health care industry made $100 billion in profits. Pharmaceutical industry, top six companies, $69 billion in profit. And those CEOs are contributing to Pete's campaign and other campaigns up here.

BUTTIGIEG: Let's clear this up right now.

SANDERS: So maybe it is finally time that we said as a nation, enough is enough, the function of a rational health care system is not to make the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies rich. It is to provide health care to all people as a human right, not a privilege.

TODD: Mr. Vice President, you got it.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: No premiums, no copayments, no deductibles.

TODD: Mr. Vice President, go ahead, and then Senator Warren.

(CROSSTALK)

Mr. Vice President and Senator Warren.

BIDEN: Hey, I'm the only one on this stage that actually got anything done on health care, OK?

(APPLAUSE)

I'm the guy the president turned to and said, go get the votes for Obamacare. And I notice what everybody's talking about is the plan that I first introduced. That is to go and add to Obamacare, provide a public option, a Medicare-like option. It cost -- and increase the subsidies. It cost a lot of money. It cost $750 billion over 10 years. But I paid for it by making sure that Mike and other people pay at the same tax rate their secretary pays at.

(APPLAUSE)

That's how we get it paid, number one. Number two, you know, from the moment -- from the moment we passed that signature legislation, Mike called it a disgrace, number one. Number two, Trump decided to get rid of it. And, number three, my friends here came up with another plan.

But they don't tell you, when you ask Bernie how much it costs, the last time he said that -- I think it was on your show -- he said we'll find out, we'll find out or something to that effect. It cost over $35 trillion bucks. Let's get real.

(APPLAUSE)

TODD: Senator Warren, you get the final word on this one and then we go to another question.

SANDERS: And your plan costs $50 trillion.

TODD: Go ahead, Senator Warren.

BLOOMBERG: What am I, chicken liver?

WARREN: So I actually took a look at the plans that are posted. Mayor Buttigieg, there are four expenses that families pay, right, premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and uncovered medical expenses. Mayor Buttigieg says he will put a cap only on the premiums.

BUTTIGIEG: It's not true.

WARREN: And that means families are going to pick up the rest of the costs. Amy, I looked online at your plan. It's two paragraphs. Families are suffering, and they need...

KLOBUCHAR: OK, that's it.

WARREN: You can't simply stand here and trash an idea to give health care coverage to everyone without having a realistic plan of your own. And if you're not going to own up to the fact either that you don't have a plan or that your plan is going to leave people without health care coverage, full coverage, then you need to say so.

(CROSSTALK)

WARREN: I just want to say on this one, I was in Reno when I met a man who said he had diabetes. He gets his insulin through the V.A. But his sister and his daughter also have diabetes, no way to pay for their insulin. Three human beings right here in Nevada who are struggling.

BIDEN: My plan takes care of that.

WARREN: They share one insulin prescription. That should not happen in America.

TODD: Mayor Bloomberg, is Vice President Biden right, you weren't a fan of Obamacare?

BLOOMBERG: I am a fan of Obamacare. At the beginning...

BIDEN: Since when, Mr. Mayor?

BLOOMBERG: Mr. Vice President, I just checked the record, because you'd said one time that I was not. In '09, I testified and gave a speech before the mayors' conference in Washington advocating it and trying to get all the mayors to sign on. And I think at that time I wrote an article praising Obamacare. It was either in the New York Post or the Daily News. So the facts are I was there.

BIDEN: Didn't you call it a disgrace, though, Mr. Mayor?

BLOOMBERG: Let me finish, thank you. I was in favor of it. I thought it didn't do -- go as far as we should. What Trump has done to this is a disgrace. The first thing we've got to do is get the White House and bring back those things that were left and then find a way to expand it, another public option, to having some rules about capping charges. All of those things. We shouldn't just walk away and start something that is totally new, untried.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: OK, Vice President Biden, go ahead.

BIDEN: The mayor said, when we passed it, the signature piece of this administration, it's a disgrace. They're the exact words, it was a disgrace. Look it up, check it out. "It was a disgrace." And I covered, by the way, my plan, you do not have surprise billing, you bring down drug prices, people are not -- and give people all the things we were just talking about. I guess we've not got the time to do it, but I'll get a chance to talk about...

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Thank you, sir. Lester?

HOLT: All right.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLT: Mayor Bloomberg, at the beginning of this debate, you took some incoming fire on this next topic, so let's get into it. In 2015, this is how you described your policing policy as mayor. Quote, "We put all the cops in the minority neighborhoods." And you explained that as, quote, "Because that's where all the crime is."

You went on to say, "And the way you should get the guns out of the kids' hands is to throw them against the wall and frisk them." You've apologized for that policy. But what does that kind of language say about how you view people of color or people in minority neighborhoods?

BLOOMBERG: Well, if I go back and look at my time in office, the one thing that I'm really worried about, embarrassed about, was how it turned out with stop and frisk.

When I got into office, there were 650 murders a year in New York City. And I thought that my first responsibility was to give people the right to live. That's the basic right of everything. And we started -- we adopted a policy, which had been in place, the policy that all big police departments use, of stop and frisk.

What happened, however, was it got out of control. And when we discovered -- I discovered that we were doing many, many, too many stop and frisks, we cut 95 percent of it out. And I've sat down with a bunch of African-American clergy and businesspeople to talk about this, to try to learn. I've talked to a number of kids who'd been stopped.

And I'm trying -- was trying to understand how we change our policy so we can keep the city safe, because the crime rate did go from 650, 50 percent down to 300. And we have to keep a lid on crime. But we cannot go out and stop people indiscriminately.

HOLT: All right, Mayor...

BLOOMBERG: And that was what was happening.

HOLT: Let me go to Vice President Biden on this. You want to respond to that, react to it?

BIDEN: Yes, let's get something straight. The reason that stop and frisk changed is because Barack Obama sent moderators to see what was going on. When we sent them there to say this practice has to stop, the mayor thought it was a terrible idea we send them there, a terrible idea.

Let's get the facts straight. Let's get the order straight. And it's not whether he apologized or not. It's the policy. The policy was abhorrent. And it was a fact of violation of every right people have.

(APPLAUSE)

And we are the one, my -- our administration sent -- sent in people to moderate. And at the very time, the mayor argued against that. This idea that he figured out it was a bad idea, he figured out it was a bad idea after we sent in monitors and said it must stop. Even then, he continued the policy.

HOLT: All right. Mayor, would you like to make a quick response to that?

BLOOMBERG: Yes, I would. I've sat, I've apologized, I've asked for forgiveness, but the bottom line is that we stopped too many people, but the policy -- we stopped too many people. And we've got to make sure that we do something about criminal justice in this country.

There is no great answer to a lot of these problems. And if we took off everybody that was wrong off this panel, everybody that was wrong on criminal justice at some time in their careers, there'd be nobody else up here.

HOLT: Senator Warren?

WARREN: So I...

SANDERS: Let's be clear -- I'm sorry, who did you call on?

HOLT: Senator Warren.

SANDERS: Sorry.

WARREN: I think this -- he called me. I do think that this really is about leadership and accountability. When the mayor says that he apologized, listen very closely to the apology. The language he used is about stop and frisk. It's about how it turned out.

No, this isn't about how it turned out. This is about what it was designed to do to begin with.

(APPLAUSE)

It targeted communities of color. It targeted black and brown men from the beginning. And if you want to issue a real apology, then the apology has to start with the intent of the plan as it was put together and the willful ignorance, day by day by day, of admitting what was happening even as people protested in your own street, shutting out the sounds of people telling you how your own policy was breaking their lives. You need a different apology here, Mr. Mayor.

HOLT: Senator, thank you. Chuck?

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Let me get Senator Klobuchar. We're staying on this topic. We're going to stay on this topic, but I want to get something in here with Senator Klobuchar.

When you were the top prosecutor in Minneapolis, Senator, there were at least two dozen instances where police were involved in the deaths of civilians. None of those officers were prosecuted. You did prosecute a black teenager who was sentenced to life in prison, despite what are now serious doubts about the evidence.

Now, the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP has recently called for you to suspend your campaign over that case because some new evidence has come out since. Big picture, why should black and Latino voters trust your judgment now if it appears you may have gotten it wrong then?

KLOBUCHAR: First, I'll start with that case. It is very clear that any evidence, if there is new evidence, even old evidence, it should be reviewed by that office and by the county attorney. That must happen. I have called for that review.

This was a case involving an 11-year-old African-American girl named Tyesha Edwards who was shot doing her homework at her kitchen table. Three people were convicted. One of the cases is the one that is being investigated, was investigated by a journalist. And I think it's very important that that evidence come forward.

In terms of the police shootings that you noted, those went to a grand jury, every single one of them. And I have made very clear for months now that, like so many prosecutors, I think those cases in my time, they were all going to the grand jury. It was thought that was the best way to handle them in many, many jurisdictions.

TODD: Do you think you should have spoke up? You didn't speak up at the time. Should you?

KLOBUCHAR: Did -- I actually did speak up on something very similar. And that was when our police chief in Minneapolis tried to take the investigations of police shootings into his own hands. And I strongly said I disagreed with that. Now I do believe also that a prosecutor should make those decisions herself.

And the last thing I will say, because you asked the question about voting, I have the support of African-Americans in my community in every election. I had strong support and strong support of leadership. And that's because I earned it.

And this is going to be on me to earn it. You earn it with the -- what you stand for when it comes to equal opportunity. You earn it with the work that I have done, the leadership I've shown on voting rights, and, yes, you earn it with the work that must be done on criminal justice reform.

TODD: OK, thank you, Senator. Hallie Jackson?

JACKSON: I want to talk about transparency here, because many Democrats, including most of you on stage, have criticized President Trump for his lack of transparency. But, Senator Sanders, when you were here in Las Vegas in October, you were hospitalized with a heart attack. Afterwards, you pledged to make, quote, "all your medical records public." You've released three letters from your doctors, but you now say you won't release anything more. What happened to your promise of full transparency?

SANDERS: Well, I'll tell you. Well, I think we did. Let me tell you what happened. First of all, you're right. And thank you, Las Vegas, for the excellent medical care I got in the hospital for two days.

(APPLAUSE)

And I think the one area maybe that Mayor Bloomberg and I share, you have two stents, as well.

BLOOMBERG: Twenty-five years ago.

SANDERS: Well, we both have two stents. It's a procedure that is done about a million times a year. So we released the full report of that heart attack.

Second of all, we released the full -- my whole 29 years in the Capitol, the attending physician, all of my history, medical history.

And furthermore, we released reports from two leading Vermont cardiologists who described my situation and, by the way, who said Bernie Sanders is more than able to deal with the stress and the vigor of being president of the United States. Hey, follow me around the campaign trail, three, four, five events today. See how you're doing compared to me.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Mayor Buttigieg, you've been critical about transparency on this stage and people needing to do better. Is that response from Senator Sanders enough for you?

BUTTIGIEG: No, it's not, because, first of all, let me say, we're all delighted that you are in fighting shape.

SANDERS: Thank you.

BUTTIGIEG: And at the same time, transparency matters, especially living through the Trump era. Now, under President Obama, the standard was that the president would release full medical records, do a physical, and release the readout. I think that's the standard that we should hold ourselves to, as well.

Now, President Trump lowered that standard. He said just a letter from a doctor is enough. And a lot of folks on this stage are now saying that's enough. But I am certainly prepared to get a physical, put out the results. I think everybody here should be willing to do the same.

But I'm actually less concerned about the lack of transparency on Sanders' personal health than I am about the lack of transparency on how to pay for his health care plan, since he's said that it's impossible to even know how much it's going to cost, and even after raising taxes on everybody making $29,000, there is still a multi-trillion-dollar hole.

As a matter of fact, if you add up all his policies altogether, they come to $50 trillion. He's only explained $25 trillion worth of revenue, which means that the hole in there is bigger than the size of the entire economy of the United States. The time has come to level with the American people on matters personal and on matters of policy.

JACKSON: Thank you. Senator Sanders, quickly.

SANDERS: Let's level. Let's level, Pete. Under your plan, which is a maintenance continuation of the status quo...

BUTTIGIEG: That's untrue.

SANDERS: Can I finish? The average American today is paying $12,000 a year. That's what that family is paying, 20 percent of a $60,000 income, $12,000 a year, highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

Just the other day, a major study came out from Yale epidemiologist in Lancet, one of the leading medical publications in the world. What they said, my friends, is Medicare for all will save $450 billion a year, because we are eliminating the absurdity of thousands of separate plans that require hundreds of billions of dollars of administration and, by the way, ending the $100 billion a year in profiteering from the drug companies and the insurance companies.

(CROSSTALK)

BUTTIGIEG: This is really important.

JACKSON: Mayor Bloomberg, I want to go to you on this.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Your plan, by the way, will increase costs.

BUTTIGIEG: He said my plan is the status quo, and that's false. Look, if my plan is the status quo, why was it attacked by the insurance industry the moment it came out? And on issue after issue after issue, this is what Senator Sanders is saying. If you're not with him, if you're not all the way on his side, then you must be for the status quo. Well, you know what? That is a picture that leaves most of the American people out.

JACKSON: I want to go to Mayor Bloomberg on this, the transparency issue.

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: Very briefly on transparency, Mayor Bloomberg, your campaign has said that you would eventually release your tax records.

BLOOMBERG: Yes.

JACKSON: When it comes to transparency, but people are already voting now. Why should Democratic voters have to wait?

BLOOMBERG: It just takes us a long time. Unfortunately or fortunately...

KLOBUCHAR: Could I comment on that...

(CROSSTALK)

BLOOMBERG: Fortunately, I make a lot of money, and we do business all around the world. And we are preparing it. The number of pages will probably be in the thousands of pages. I can't go to TurboTax. But I put out my tax return every year for 12 years in City Hall. We will put out this one. It tells everybody everything they need to know about every investment that I make and where the money goes.

And the biggest item is all the money I give away. And we list that, every single donation I make. And you can get that from our foundation any time you want.

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: Senator Klobuchar?

KLOBUCHAR: OK, yeah, I'm just looking at my husband in the front row that has to, like, do our taxes all the time. We probably could go to TurboTax.

And the point of this is, I believe in transparency. I had a physical, by the way. It came out well. We might all be surprised if my blood pressure is lower than Mayor Pete's. That might really shock everyone out there. And I think you should release your records from your physical.

Secondly, when it comes to tax returns, everyone up here has released their tax returns, Mayor. I think -- and it is a major issue, because the president of the United States has been hiding behind his tax returns, even when courts order him to come forward with those tax returns.

(APPLAUSE)

And I think -- I don't care how much money anyone has. I think it's great you've got a lot of money. But I think you've got to come forward with your tax returns.

JACKSON: Senator, I want to get to you in a second. Mayor Bloomberg, quick response to Senator Klobuchar?

BLOOMBERG: We'll releasing them. They'll be out in a few weeks. And that's just as fast as I can do it. Remember, I only entered into this race 10 weeks ago. All of my associates here have been at this for a couple of years.

BUTTIGIEG: That's right, we have. Engaging with voters and humbling ourselves to the backyards and diners.

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: Let me ask about something else, Mr. Mayor, because, Mayor Bloomberg -- let me ask about something else.

WARREN: ... 10 weeks ago, pay overtime, and get it done.

BLOOMBERG: I wish it were that simple.

JACKSON: I'll let you get in here, but, Mayor Bloomberg...

BLOOMBERG: It would save me a lot of money.

JACKSON: Let me ask you about something else. Several former employees have claimed that your company was a hostile workplace for women. When you were confronted about it, you admitted making sexually suggestive remarks, saying, quote, "That's the way I grew up." In a lawsuit in the 1990s, according to the Washington Post, one former female employee alleged that you said, quote, "I would do you in a second." Should Democrats expect better from their nominee?

BLOOMBERG: Let me say a couple of things, if I could have my full minute and a quarter, thank you. I have no tolerance for the kind of behavior that the "Me, Too" movement has exposed. And anybody that does anything wrong in our company, we investigate it, and if it's appropriate, they're gone that day.

But let me tell you what I do at my company and my foundation and in city government when I was there. In my foundation, the person that runs it's a woman, 70 percent of the people there are women. In my company, lots and lots of women have big responsibilities. They get paid exactly the same as men. And in my -- in City Hall, the person, the top person, my deputy mayor was a woman, and 40 percent of our commissioners were women.

I am very proud of the fact that about two weeks ago we were awarded, we were voted the most -- the best place to work, second best place in America. If that doesn't say something about our employees and how happy they are, I don't know what does.

JACKSON: Senator Warren, you've been critical of Mayor Bloomberg on this issue.

WARREN: Yes, I have. And I hope you heard what his defense was. "I've been nice to some women." That just doesn't cut it.

The mayor has to stand on his record. And what we need to know is exactly what's lurking out there. He has gotten some number of women, dozens, who knows, to sign nondisclosure agreements both for sexual harassment and for gender discrimination in the workplace.

So, Mr. Mayor, are you willing to release all of those women from those nondisclosure agreements, so we can hear their side of the story?

(APPLAUSE)

BLOOMBERG: We have a very few nondisclosure agreements.

WARREN: How many is that?

BLOOMBERG: Let me finish.

WARREN: How many is that?

BLOOMBERG: None of them accuse me of doing anything, other than maybe they didn't like a joke I told. And let me just -- and let me -- there's agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet and that's up to them. They signed those agreements, and we'll live with it.

BIDEN: Come on.

WARREN: So, wait, when you say it is up to -- I just want to be clear. Some is how many? And -- and when you -- and when you say they signed them and they wanted them, if they wish now to speak out and tell their side of the story about what it is they allege, that's now OK with you? You're releasing them on television tonight? Is that right?

(APPLAUSE)

BLOOMBERG: Senator...

WARREN: Is that right, tonight?

BLOOMBERG: Senator, the company and somebody else, in this case -- a man or a woman or it could be more than that, they decided when they made an agreement they wanted to keep it quiet for everybody's interests.

BIDEN: Come on.

BLOOMBERG: They signed the agreements and that's what we're going to live with.

(CROSSTALK)

BUTTIGIEG: You could release them now.

WARREN: I'm sorry. No, the question is...

BLOOMBERG: I heard your question.

WARREN: ... are the women bound by being muzzled by you and you could release them from that immediately? Because, understand, this is not just a question of the mayor's character. This is also a question about electability.

We are not going to beat Donald Trump with a man who has who knows how many nondisclosure agreements and the drip, drip, drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against.

(APPLAUSE)

That's not what we do as Democrats.

JACKSON: Mr. Vice President?

BIDEN: Look, let's get something straight here. It's easy. All the mayor has to do is say, "You are released from the nondisclosure agreement," period.

(APPLAUSE)

We talk about transparency here. This guy got himself in trouble saying that there was a non -- that he couldn't disclose what he did. He went to his company...

BUTTIGIEG: Just to be super-clear, that was about the list of clients, so nobody gets the wrong idea.

BIDEN: No, no, no. Yeah, I'm sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

BUTTIGIEG: I know what you mean. No, you're right.

BIDEN: But he said -- he went to the company and said I want to be released, I want to be able to do it. Look, this is about transparency from the very beginning, whether it's your health record, whether it's your taxes, whether it's whether you have cases against you, whether or not people have signed nondisclosure agreements.

You think the women, in fact, were ready to say I don't want anybody to know about what you did to me? That's not how it works. The way it works is they say, look, this is what you did to me and the mayor comes along and his attorneys said, I will give you this amount of money if you promise you will never say anything. That's how it works.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Mayor Bloomberg, final word to you?

BLOOMBERG: I've said we're not going to get -- to end these agreements because they were made consensually and they have every right to expect that they will stay private.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

BIDEN: If they want to release it, they should be able to release themselves. Say yes.

SANDERS: Can I add a word to this? You know, we talk about electability, and everybody up here wants to beat Trump, and we talk about stop and frisk, and we talked about the workplace that Mayor Bloomberg has established and the problems there.

But maybe we should also ask how Mayor Bloomberg in 2004 supported George W. Bush for president, put money into Republican candidates for the United States Senate when some of us -- Joe and I and others -- were fighting for Democrats to control the United States Senate.

BIDEN: And didn't support Barack.

SANDERS: Maybe we can talk -- maybe we can talk about a billionaire saying that we should not raise the minimum wage or that we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If that's a way to beat Donald Trump, wow, I would be very surprised.

JACKSON: Thank you, Senator. Vanessa, to you.

HAUC: Senator Klobuchar, you're running on your Washington experience. But last week in a Telemundo interview, you could not name the president of Mexico or discuss any of his policies. Last night, you defended yourself saying, quote, "This isn't 'Jeopardy!'"

But my question to you is, shouldn't our next president know more about one of our largest trading partners?

KLOBUCHAR: Of course.

(APPLAUSE)

Of course. And I don't think that that momentary forgetfulness actually reflects what I know about Mexico and how much I care about it. And I first want to say greetings to President Lopez Obrador.

Secondly, I -- what I meant by the game of "Jeopardy!" is that I think we could all come up with things. You know, how many members are there in the Israeli Knesset? One hundred twenty. Who is the president of Honduras?

HAUC: Senator Klobuchar...

KLOBUCHAR: Hernandez.

HAUC: Senator Klobuchar.

KLOBUCHAR: But when it comes to Mexico, I am the one person on this stage that came out first to say I was for the U.S.-Mexican-Canadian Trade Agreement. That is going to be one of the number-one duties of a president is to implement that.

HAUC: Senator Klobuchar, my colleague specifically asked you if you could name the president of Mexico and your response was no.

KLOBUCHAR: Yes, that's right. And I said that I made an error. I think having a president that maybe is humble and is able to admit that here and there maybe wouldn't be a bad thing.

(APPLAUSE)

HAUC: Mayor Buttigieg, your response?

KLOBUCHAR: But if you could let me -- if you could...

BUTTIGIEG: Yeah, I wouldn't liken this to trivia. I actually didn't know how many members were in the Knesset, so you got me there.

KLOBUCHAR: Well, there you go.

BUTTIGIEG: But you're staking your candidacy on your Washington experience. You're on the committee that oversees border security. You're on the committee that does trade. You're literally in part of the committee that's overseeing these things and were not able to speak to literally the first thing about the politics of the country to our south.

KLOBUCHAR: Are you -- are you trying to say that I'm dumb? Or are you mocking me here, Pete?

BUTTIGIEG: I'm saying you shouldn't trivialize that knowledge.

KLOBUCHAR: I said I made an error. People sometimes forget names. I am the one that -- number one, has the experience based on passing over 100 bills...

HAUC: Thank you, Senator.

KLOBUCHAR: If I could respond, this was a pretty big allegation.

HAUC: Quickly, please.

KLOBUCHAR: He's basically saying that I don't have the experience to be president of the United States. I have passed over 100 bills as the lead Democrat since being in the U.S. Senate. I am the one, not you, that has won statewide in congressional district after congressional district.

(APPLAUSE)

And I will say, when you tried in Indiana, Pete, to run, what happened to you? You lost by over 20 points to someone who later lost to my friend, Joe Donnelly. So don't tell me about experience. What unites us here is we want to win. And I think we should put a proven winner in charge of the ticket.

HAUC: Quick response, Mayor Buttigieg.

BUTTIGIEG: This is a race for president. This is a race for president. If winning a race for Senate in Minnesota translated directly to becoming president, I would have grown up under the presidency of Walter Mondale. This is different.

And the reason that I think we need to talk about Washington experience is that we should ask what that experience has led to. Experience and certainly tenure is not always the same thing as judgment. If we're going to talk about votes in the Senate in Washington, let's talk about it.

(CROSSTALK)

KLOBUCHAR: Let's talk about a major policy...

(CROSSTALK)

HOLT: Hello, hello, hello, hello. Thank you. Senator Warren and Mayor Bloomberg, this question is for you.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLT: I want to talk about -- maybe this is appropriate here.

WARREN: Can I just defend Senator Klobuchar for a minute? This is not right. I understand that she forgot a name.

(APPLAUSE)

It happens. It happens to everybody on this stage. Look, you want to ask about whether or not you understand trade policy with Mexico? Have at it. And if you get it wrong, man, you ought to be held accountable for that. You want to ask about the economy and you get it wrong? You ought to be held accountable. You want to ask about a thousand different issues and you get it wrong? You ought to be held accountable.

But let's just be clear. Missing a name all by itself does not indicate that you do not understand what's going on. And I just think this is unfair.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Let me say something.

(CROSSTALK)

HAUC: You're right. But Senator Klobuchar could not discuss Mexican policy, either.

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: I'm the only one who knows this man and met with him.

KLOBUCHAR: I do have to respond.

BIDEN: Come on, man.

SANDERS: I called him up.

(CROSSTALK)

KLOBUCHAR: You have just invoked my name again, and I ask you to look at the interview I did directly after the forum, which we went into great detail on Latin American policy.

And I want to say one thing about Mayor Pete where we just disagree. He was asked on a debate stage about the Mexican cartels, which are bad, bad criminal organizations. He said that he would be open to classifying them as terrorist organizations. I actually don't agree with that. That is a very valid debate to have. I don't think that would be good for our security coordination with Mexico, and I think you got that wrong.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, at least that's a substantive...

BIDEN: I've spent more time in Mexico than anybody. Could I get a chance to say something?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, hold on.

HOLT: Mr. Vice President?

SANDERS: Si.

BIDEN: Si, thank you.

SANDERS: Si, si.

BIDEN: Look, I'm the only one who's spent extensive -- hundreds of hours in Latin America. I've met with this president. I've met with the last president, the one before that. I've been deeply involved in making sure that we have a policy that makes more sense than this god-awful president we have now.

I'm the guy that put together $750 million to provide help for those Latin American countries that are the reason why people are leaving, because there's nothing for them to stay for. I've spent hours and hours and hours. And so you want to talk about experience in Washington, it's good to know with whom you're talking. It's good to know what they think. It's good to know what you think. And it's good to be able to have a relationship. That's what it's about.

(APPLAUSE)

HOLT: All right. Well, we -- clearly everybody is warmed up. We're going to take a short break and kick off the next hour with a topic many voters have said is top of mind, the climate crisis. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLT: Welcome back. We received hundreds of questions from Democratic voters, and many of them were about the climate crisis. It's an issue that uniquely impacted Nevadans.

Jon Ralston from the Nevada Independent kicks us off now.

RALSTON: So y'all ready to play some Nevada trivia now? I'm only half-joking here. Let's talk about this issue, because it's up there in polls. Voters are really concerned about it, as you all know.

What you might not know is that Las Vegas and Reno are the vibrant economic engines for the state of Nevada and are also two of the fastest warming cities in the country. In certain months of the year, the heat is already an emergency situation for residents and for tourists walking up and down the Strip.

So I'm going to start with you, Mr. Vice President. What specific policies would you implement that would keep Las Vegas and Reno livable, but also not hurt those economies?

BIDEN: It is the existential threat humanity faces, global warming. I went out to tech -- you have a facility where you have one of the largest, largest solar panel arrays in the world. And it's -- when the fourth stage is completed, it will be able to take care of 60,000 homes for every single bit of their needs.

And what I would do is, number one, work on providing the $47 billion we have for tech and for -- to making sure we find answers is to find a way to transmit that wind and solar energy across the network in the United States. Invest in battery technology.

I would immediately reinstate all of the elimination of -- of what Trump has eliminated in terms of the EPA. I would secondly make sure that we had 500,000 new charging stations in every new highway we built in the United States of America or repaired. I would make sure that we once again made sure that we got the mileage standards back up which would have saved over 12 billion barrels of oil, had he not walked away from it. And I would invest in rail, in rail. Rail can take hundreds of thousands, millions of cars off the road if we have high-speed rail.

RALSTON: Thank you, Mr. Vice president. I want to get some of the rest of you in on this because y'all have plans. Mayor Bloomberg, let me read -- let me read what you've said about this issue. You said you want to intensify U.S. and international actions to stop the expansion of coal. How exactly are you going to do that?

BLOOMBERG: Well, already we've closed 304 out of the 530 coal-fired power plants in the United States, and we've closed 80 out of the 200 or 300 that are in Europe, Bloomberg Philanthropies, working with the Sierra Club, that's one of the things you do.

Recommended

VIDEO
Watch highlights of the Democratic debate in 5 minutes

VIDEO
Watch Warren attack 'arrogant billionaire' Bloomberg over treatment of women
But let's just start at the beginning. If you're president, the first thing you do the first day is you rejoin the Paris Agreement. This is just ridiculous for us to drop out.

(APPLAUSE)

Two, America's responsibility is to be the leader in the world. And if we don't, we're the ones that are going to get hurt just as much as anybody else. And that's why I don't want to have us cut off all relationships with China, because you will never solve this problem without China and India, Western Europe, and America. That's where most of the greenhouse...

RALSTON: I just...

BLOOMBERG: Let me just finish one other thing. I believe -- and you can tell my whether this is right -- but the solar array that the vice president is talking about is being closed because it's not economic, that you can put solar panels in into modern technology even more modern than that.

RALSTON: All right. Mayor, I just -- I want to let Senator Warren jump in here, just because you've said something that's really specific to Nevada. And the tension here in this state is between people who want renewable energy and people who want conservation on public lands.

Eighty-five percent of Nevada is managed by the federal government. You have said that you were going to have an executive order that would stop drilling on public lands, stop mining, which is a huge industry here. You've got to have lithium, you've got to have copper for renewable energy. How do you do that?

WARREN: So, look, I think we should stop all new drilling and mining on public lands and all offshore drilling. If we need to make exceptions because there are specific minerals that we've got to have access to, then we locate those and we do it not in a way that just is about the profits of giant industries, but in a way that is sustainable for the environment. We cannot continue to let our public lands be used for profits by those who don't care about our environment and are not making it better.

Look, I'm going to say something that is really controversial in Washington, but I think I'm safe to say this here in Nevada. I believe in science.

(APPLAUSE)

And I believe that the way that we're going to deal with this problem is that we are going to increase by tenfold our investment in science.

There's an upcoming $27 trillion market worldwide for green. And much of what is needed has not yet been invented. My proposal is, let's invent it here in the United States and then say, we invent it in the U.S., you've got to build it in the U.S.

TODD: We're going to...

WARREN: That's a million new manufacturing jobs.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: We're going to stick to this topic. But, Senator Sanders, I'm going to move to fracking. You want a total ban on natural gas extraction, fracking, in the next five years. The industry, obviously, supports a lot of jobs around the country, including thousands in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

One union official there told the New York Times, quote, "If we end up with a Democratic candidate that supports a fracking ban, I'm going to tell my members that either you don't vote or you vote for the other guy." What do you tell these workers, it's supporting a big industry right now, sir?

SANDERS: What I tell these workers is that the scientists are telling us that if we don't act incredibly boldly within the next six, seven years, there will be irreparable damage done not just in Nevada, not just to Vermont or Massachusetts, but to the entire world.

Joe said it right: This is an existential threat. You know what that means, Chuck? That means we're fighting for the future of this planet.

(APPLAUSE)

And the Green New Deal that I support, by the way, will create up to 20 million good-paying jobs as we move our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. This is a moral issue, my friends. We have to take the responsibility of making sure that the planet we leave our children and grandchildren is a planet that is healthy and habitable. That is more important than the profits of the fossil fuel industry.

(APPLAUSE)

TODD: I want to keep this going. Senator Klobuchar, you're not on the same page on a total ban of fracking. You call it a transitional fuel. But scientists are sounding this alarm now. Do you take these warnings that maybe fracking is a step backwards, not a step forward, not a transition?

KLOBUCHAR: I have made it very clear that we have to review all of the permits that are out there right now for natural gas and then make decisions on each one of them and then not grant new ones until we make sure that it's safe. But it is a transitional fuel.

And I want to add something that really hasn't been brought up by my colleagues. This is a crisis, and a lot of our plans are very similar to get to carbon neutral by 2045, 2050, something like that. But we're not going to be able to pass this unless we bring people with us.

I'm looking at these incredible senators from Nevada -- Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen -- and I'm thinking that they know how important this is. And you can do this in a smart way. One, get back into that international climate change agreement. Two, clean power rules, bring those back. And the president can do this herself without Congress, as well as the gas mileage standard.

But when it comes to putting a price on carbon -- this is very important, Chuck -- we have to make sure that that money goes back directly as dividends to the people that are going to need help for paying their bills. Otherwise, we're not going to pass it.

TODD: Senator Warren...

KLOBUCHAR: So there has to be a heart to the policy to get this done.

TODD: Senator Warren, address the worker issue, if you don't mind, as well. Can you address the worker issue?

WARREN: Yes. We can have a Green New Deal and create jobs. We need people in infrastructure who will help build. We have manufacturing...

TODD: They could lose that job tomorrow, though. That's what they're concerned about.

WARREN: Yes, those jobs are for tomorrow. Those are the ones we need to be working on to harden our infrastructure right now. But listen to Senator Klobuchar's point. She says we have to think smaller in order to get it passed. I don't think that's the right approach here.

Why can't we get anything passed in Washington on climate? Everyone understands the urgency, but we've got two problems. The first is corruption, an industry that makes its money felt all through Washington.

The first thing I want to do in Washington is pass my anti-corruption bill so that we can start making the changes we need to make on climate. And the second is the filibuster. If you're not willing to roll back the filibuster, then you're giving the fossil fuel industry a veto overall of the work that we need to do.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Thank you. Vanessa -- Senator, thank you, Vanessa has got the next question.

KLOBUCHAR: Can I respond? She mentioned me.

(CROSSTALK)

HAUC: Vice President Biden, you have said that you want to hold oil and gas executives accountable for their role in harming our planet. You have even suggested that you might put them in jail. Which companies are you talking about? And how far are you willing to go?

BIDEN: I'm willing to go as far as we have to. First of all, I would eliminate all the subsidies we have for oil and gas, eliminate it, period. That would save millions and millions -- billions of dollars.

(APPLAUSE)

Number two, I think that any executive who is engaged -- and by the way, minority communities are the communities that are being most badly hurt by the way in which we deal with climate change. They are the ones that become the victims. That's where the asthma is, that's where the groundwater supply has been polluted. That's where, in fact, people, in fact, do not have the opportunity to be able to get away from everything from asbestos in the walls of our schools.

I have a trillion-dollar program for infrastructure. That will provide for thousands and thousands of new jobs, not $15 an hour, but $50 an hour, plus benefits, unions, unions being able to do that.

(APPLAUSE)

And what it does is, it will change the nature -- look, here's the last point I want -- and my time is going to run out. Here's the last point I want to make to you. On day one, when I'm elected president, I'm going to invite all of the members of the Paris Accord to Washington, D.C. They make up 85 percent of the problem. They know me. I'm used to dealing with international relations. I will get them to up the ante in a big way.

HAUC: Vice President Biden, you didn't answer my questions.

BIDEN: I thought I did. I'm sorry.

HAUC: What would you do with these companies that are responsible for the destruction of our planet?

BIDEN: What would I do with them? I would make sure they, number one, stop. Number two, if you demonstrate that they, in fact, have done things already that are bad and they've been lying, they should be able to be sued, they should be able to be held personally accountable, and they should -- and not only the company, not the stockholders, but the CEOs of those companies. They should be engaged.

And it's a little bit like -- look, this is the industries we should be able to sue. We should go after -- just like we did the drug companies, just like we did with the tobacco companies. The only company we can't go after are gun manufacturers, because of my buddy here. But that's a different story...

HOLT: We're going to stay on the topic. My question is to Mayor Bloomberg. Mayor Bloomberg, your business is heavily invested in China. I think you mentioned that a few questions back. The number one producer in the world of carbon emissions. How far would you go to force China to reduce those emissions and tackle the climate crisis?

BLOOMBERG: Well, you're not going to go to war with them. You have to negotiate with them and try to -- and we've seen how well that works with tariffs that are hurting us. What you have to do is convince the Chinese that it is in their interest, as well. Their people are going to die just as our people are going to die. And we'll work together.

In all fairness, the China has slowed down. It's India that is an even bigger problem. But it is an enormous problem. Nobody's doing anything about it. We could right here in America make a big difference. We're closing the coal-fired power plants. If we could enforce some of the rules on fracking so that they don't release methane into the air and into the water, you'll make a big difference.

But we're not going to get rid of fracking for a while. And we, incidentally not just natural gas. You frack oil, as well. It is a technique, and when it's done poorly, like they're doing in too many places where the methane gets out into the air, it is very damaging. But it's a transition fuel, I think the senator said it right.

We want to go to all renewables. But that's still many years from now. And we -- before I think the senator mentioned 2050 for some data. No scientist thinks the numbers for 2050 are 2050 anymore. They're 2040, 2035. The world is coming apart faster than any scientific study had predicted. We've just got to do something now.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLT: Mayor Buttigieg, your thoughts.

BUTTIGIEG: Let's be real about the deadline. It's not 2050, it's not 2040, it's not 2030. It's 2020. Because if we don't elect a president who actually believes in climate science now, we will never meet any of the other scientific or policy deadlines that we need to.

(APPLAUSE)

So first of all, let's make sure we're actually positioned to win, which, once again, if we put forward two of the most polarizing figures on this stage as the only option, it's going to be a real struggle.

Now, I've got a plan to get us carbon neutral by 2050. And I think everybody up here has a plan that more or less does the same. So the real question is, how are we going to actually get it done?

We need leadership to make this a national project that breaks down the partisan and political tug of war that prevents anything from getting done. How do you do it? Well, first of all, making sure that those jobs are available quickly.

Secondly, ensuring that we are pulling in those very sectors who have been made to feel like they're part of the problem, from farming to industry, and fund as well as urge them to do the right thing.

And then global climate diplomacy. I'm a little skeptical of the idea that convincing is going to do the trick when it comes to working with China. America has repeatedly overestimated our ability to shape Chinese ambitions. But what we can do is ensure that we use the hard tools...

HOLT: All right, Mayor Buttigieg.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLT: Senator Warner?

BUTTIGIEG: ... to enforce what has to happen...

WARREN: Yes, I want to make sure that the question of environmental justice gets more than a glancing blow in this debate...

(APPLAUSE)

... because for generations now in this country, toxic waste dumps, polluting factories have been located in or near communities of color, over and over and over. And the consequences are felt in the health of young African-American babies, it's felt in the health of seniors, people with compromised immune systems.

It's also felt economically. Who wants to move into an area where the air smells bad or you can't drink the water?

I have a commitment of a trillion dollars to repair the damage that this nation has permitted to inflict on communities of color for generations now. We have to own up to our responsibility. We cannot simply talk about climate change in big, global terms. We need to talk about it in terms of rescuing the communities that have been damaged.

HOLT: Senator Warren, thank you. Hallie?

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: Vice President Biden, I want to ask you about something else that is important to people here. I want to ask you about Latinos, owning one out of every four new small businesses in the United States. Many of them have benefited from President Trump's tax cuts, and they may be hesitant about new taxes or regulations. Will taxes on their small businesses go up under your administration?

BIDEN: No. Taxes on small businesses won't go up. As a matter of fact, we're going to make sure there's more money available for small businesses in the Latino community and the black community to be able to get the capital to start businesses.

And at the Treasury Department, there's going to be a window available where we significantly increase the amount of money available so people can borrow the money to get started. They have demonstrated they're incredibly successful. We should not be raising taxes on them. We should start rewarding work, not just wealth.

That's why we have to change the tax code the way it is. That's why the wealthy have to start to pay their fair share. And that's why we have to focus on giving people the ability to garner wealth, generate wealth.

And that's why this whole idea of red-lining, lending to people in areas wasn't the cause of Wall Street failing. The greed of Wall Street was the reason why it occurred, not red-lining.

(APPLAUSE)

And lastly I want to say, look, the idea of China, China is -- and their Belt and Road proposal, they're taking the dirtiest coal in the world mostly out of Mongolia and spreading it all around the world. It's clear. Make it clear when you call them to Washington in the first 100 days, if you continue, you will suffer severe consequences because the rest of the world will impose tariffs on everything you're selling because you are undercutting the entire economy.

JACKSON: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Mayor Buttigieg, will taxes on those businesses go up under you?

BUTTIGIEG: Not if they are small businesses. I mean, what we've got to do is level the playing field, where a company like Amazon or Chevron is paying literally zero on billions of dollars in profits and it puts small businesses, like the ones that are revitalizing my own city, often Latino-owned on our west side, at a disadvantage.

We need to recognize that investing in Latino entrepreneurship is not just an investment in the Latino community, it is an investment in the future of America. And it is time for a president who understands the value of immigration in lifting up all of our communities and our country. We're getting the exact opposite message from the current president.

And it is time to recognize not just the diversity of the Latino community, but the importance of issues like economic empowerment, like health care, as well as immigration.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: We have a tax system...

(CROSSTALK)

WARREN: We have an entrepreneurship gap in America. And that is a gap between white entrepreneurs and black and Latino entrepreneurs. And the principal reason for this is they don't have the money for equity to get the businesses started.

It's about a $7 billion gap. We want to have real entrepreneurship and a level playing field. I have a plan to put the $7 billion in to have the fund managed by the people...

JACKSON: Senator, thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

WARREN: ... who are routinely cut out.

SANDERS: When we talk...

WARREN: It can't just be about taxes.

JACKSON: Thank you, Senator.

WARREN: We need to make an investment to level the playing field and end the black and white wealth...

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Look, I want to get into something. Mayor Bloomberg, the vice president talked about red-lining.

BLOOMBERG: As the only one here that started a business, maybe you...

TODD: Mayor Bloomberg, you seemed to imply that red-lining and stopping that is -- that stopping red-lining has somehow contributed to the financial crisis.

BLOOMBERG: No, that's exactly wrong.

TODD: And that was the implication that came out in your quote, so I want to give you a chance to clarify this.

BLOOMBERG: I've been well on the record against red-lining since I worked on Wall Street. I was against during the financial crisis. I've been against it since.

The financial crisis came about because the people that took the mortgages, packaged them, and other people bought them, those were -- that's where all the disaster was. Red-lining is still a practice some places, and we've got to cut it out. But it's just not true.

What I was going to say, maybe we want to talk about businesses. I'm the only one here that I think that's ever started a business. Is that fair? OK.

What we need is -- I can tell you in New York City, we had programs, they're mentoring programs for young businesspeople so they can learn how to start a business. We had programs that could get them seed capital. We had programs to get branch banking in their neighborhoods, because if you don't have a branch bank there, you can't get a checking account. You can't get a checking account, you can't get a loan. You can't get a loan, you can't get a mortgage. Then you don't have any wealth. There's ways to fix this. And it doesn't take trillions of dollars. It takes us to focus on the problems of small businesses.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Senator Sanders, 45 seconds, and then we're going to move on. Senator Sanders, 45 seconds.

(APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: You know, when we talk about a corrupt political system, bought by billionaires like Mr. Bloomberg, it manifests itself in a tax code in which not only is Amazon and many other major corporations, some owned by the wealthiest people in this country not paying a nickel in taxes, we have the insane situation that billionaires today, if you can believe it, have an effective tax rate lower than the middle class. So maybe, just maybe...

BLOOMBERG: But you're re-writing the tax code. Why are you complaining? Who wrote the code?

SANDERS: You did. You and your campaign...

BLOOMBERG: You and the other 99 senators.

SANDERS: You and your -- not me.

BLOOMBERG: Oh, come on.

SANDERS: You and your campaign contributions electing people who represent the wealthy and the powerful, those are the folks...

BLOOMBERG: Yes. Those are the Democrats, thank you.

SANDERS: Well, and Republicans, too. And George W. Bush, as well.

TODD: Senator Klobuchar, let me -- let me address...

KLOBUCHAR: I was just...

(CROSSTALK)

KLOBUCHAR: I was thinking there was going to be a boxing rematch on Saturday in Vegas and those guys should go down there.

(LAUGHTER)

TODD: Senator Klobuchar, I actually want to get you to something about -- Senator Sanders tweeted last year, "Billionaires should not exist."

KLOBUCHAR: OK.

TODD: What say you?

KLOBUCHAR: I believe in capitalism, but I think our -- the goal of someone in government and a president of the United States should be a check on that. I'm not going to limit what people make, but I think right now our tax code is so tilted against regular people and that is what's wrong.

I was thinking of your question about small businesses. The small businesses I talked to, they have trouble getting employees because their employees don't have childcare. We should have universal childcare.

(APPLAUSE)

And we have not been talking enough about Donald Trump and -- let's just talk about Donald Trump, because he signed that tax bill that helped the wealthy, and he went down to Mar-a-Lago and he said to all his friends, "You just got a lot richer." That is Exhibit A.

And I can tell you, the hard-working people in Nevada were not in that room. So the key to me is to not limit what people can make, but make sure that we have a government that is fair for everyone.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: So, Senator Sanders, what did you mean that you don't think they should exist?

SANDERS: I'll tell you what I mean.

TODD: What did that mean?

SANDERS: We have a grotesque and immoral distribution of wealth and income. Mike Bloomberg owns more wealth than the bottom 125 million Americans. That's wrong. That's immoral. That should not be the case when we got a half a million people sleeping out on the street, where we have kids who cannot afford to go to college, when we have 45 million people dealing with student debt.

We have enormous problems facing this country, and we cannot continue seeing a situation where, in the last three years, billionaires in this country saw an $850 billion increase in their wealth -- congratulations, Mr. Bloomberg -- but the average American last year saw less than a 1 percent increase in his or her income. That's wrong.

(APPLAUSE)

TODD: Mayor Bloomberg, should you exist?

BLOOMBERG: I can't speak for all billionaires. All I know is I've been very lucky, made a lot of money, and I'm giving it all away to make this country better. And a good chunk of it goes to the Democratic Party, as well.

(APPLAUSE)

TODD: Is it too much? Have you earned too much -- has it been an obscene amount of -- should you have earned that much money?

BLOOMBERG: Yes. I worked very hard for it. And I'm giving it away.

TODD: All right, thank you. Hallie?

JACKSON: Mayor Buttigieg, Senator Sanders has a proposal that will require all large companies to turn over up to 20 percent of their ownership to employees over time. Is that a good idea?

BUTTIGIEG: I think that employee ownership of companies is a great idea. I'm not sure it makes sense to command those companies to do it. If we really want to deliver less inequality in this country, then we've got to start with the tax code and we've got to start with investments in how people are able to live the American dream, which is in serious, serious decline.

As a matter of fact, last time I checked, the list of countries to live out the American dream, in other words, to be born at the bottom and come out at the top, we're not even in the top ten. Number one place to live out the American dream right now is Denmark.

And as the, I think, lone person on this stage who's not a millionaire, let alone a billionaire, I believe that part of what needs to change is for the voices of the communities that haven't felt heard on Wall Street or in Washington to actually be brought to Capitol Hill.

It's why I am building a politics designed around inclusion, designed around belonging, because the one thing that will definitely perpetuate the income inequality we're living with right now is for Donald Trump to be re-elected, because we polarized this country with the wrong nominee.

JACKSON: Senator Sanders, it's your policy.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Can I -- to me, right?

JACKSON: It is your policy.

SANDERS: Thank you, it is my policy, and I'm very proud of that policy. All right? What we need to do to deal with this grotesque level of income and wealth inequality is make sure that those people who are working -- you know what, Mr. Bloomberg, it wasn't you who made all that money. Maybe your workers played some role in that, as well.

(APPLAUSE)

And it is important that those workers are able to share the benefits, also. When we have so many people who go to work every day and they feel not good about their jobs, they feel like cogs in a machine. I want workers to be able to sit on corporate boards, as well, so they can have some say over what happens to their lives.

JACKSON: Mayor Bloomberg, you own a large company. Would you support what Senator Sanders is proposing?

BLOOMBERG: Absolutely not. I can't think of a ways that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get re-elected than listening to this conversation.

(APPLAUSE)

It's ridiculous. We're not going to throw out capitalism. We tried. Other countries tried that. It was called communism, and it just didn't work.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

WARREN: So let me make a proposal that will work, that has not only support from a majority of Democrats, but also from a majority of the independents and a majority of Republicans. And that is a two-cent wealth tax on all fortunes above $50 million. You hit a billion, you've got to pay a few pennies more.

This is a tax on the top one-tenth of one percent in America. And it permits us to start to restructure our economy. It means we can afford universal childcare for everybody baby in this country age zero to five. It means we can have universal pre-K for every child in America. It means we can raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher and stop exploiting the black and brown women who do this work.

(APPLAUSE)

It means we can put $800 billion into our public schools, quadruple funding for Title I schools. And as a former special education teacher, we could fully fund IDEA so children with disabilities would get the full education they need.

(APPLAUSE)

We can do college. We could put $50 billion into our historically black colleges and universities. And we could cancel student loan debt for 43 million Americans.

HOLT: Senator, thank you.

WARREN: That's something a majority of Americans support, a two-cent wealth tax. It is a question of values. Do we want to invest in Mr. Bloomberg? Or do we want to invest in an entire generation of young students?

HOLT: Senator Sanders, my next question is for you. Senator Sanders, our latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll released yesterday, two-thirds of all voters said they were uncomfortable with a socialist candidate for president. What do you say to those voters, sir?

SANDERS: What was the result of that poll? Who was winning?

HOLT: The question -- the question is to you.

SANDERS: The question was that I was winning, and I think by a fairly comfortable margin. Might mention that.

But here is the point. Let's talk about democratic socialism. Not communism, Mr. Bloomberg. That's a cheap shot. Let's talk about -- let's talk about what goes on in countries like Denmark, where Pete correctly pointed out they have a much higher quality of life in many respects than we do. What are we talking about?

We are living in many ways in a socialist society right now. The problem is, as Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us, we have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.

(APPLAUSE)

BLOOMBERG: Wait a second.

SANDERS: When Donald -- let me finish. When Donald Trump gets $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury condominiums, that's socialism for the rich.

BLOOMBERG: Wait a second.

SANDERS: When Walmart -- we have to subsidize Walmart's workers who are on Medicaid and food stamps because the wealthiest family in America pays starvation wages, that's socialism for the rich.

(APPLAUSE)

I believe in democratic socialism for working people, not billionaires, health care for all, educational opportunities for all.

HOLT: All right, Senator, Senator, thank you.

SANDERS: Creating a government that works for all, not just for Mr. Bloomberg.

HOLT: The question was about socialism.

BLOOMBERG: What a wonderful country we have. The best known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?

SANDERS: Well, you'll miss that I work in Washington, house one.

BLOOMBERG: That's the first problem.

SANDERS: Live in Burlington, house two.

BLOOMBERG: That's good.

SANDERS: And like thousands of other Vermonters, I do have a summer camp. Forgive me for that. Where is your home? Which tax haven do you have your home?

BLOOMBERG: New York City, thank you very much, and I pay all my taxes. And I'm happy to do it because I get something for it. And let me say, I thought the senator next to me was half right.

WARREN: Elizabeth.

BLOOMBERG: I agree we should raise taxes on the -- I disagree with the senator on the wealth tax but I do agree with her that the rich aren't paying their fair share. We should raise taxes on the rich. I did that as mayor in New York City. I raised taxes. And if you take a look at my plans, the first thing I would do is try to convince Congress, because they've got to do it, we can't just order it, to roll back the tax cuts that the Trump administration put in with the -- through Congress.

HOLT: All right, Vice President Biden, weigh in on this question of Americans' feeling about socialist candidates.

BIDEN: Well, look, let me weigh in on -- you know, for 36 years and as vice president, I was listed as the poorest man in Congress. I made money when I wrote a book about my son and it surprised me how much it sold. First time I've ever made any money.

And here's the deal. The fact is that we ought to start rewarding work, not just wealth. The idea that we have a tax rate for corporate America at 21 percent is ridiculous. It should be at 28 percent. That would raise almost $800 billion a year.

The idea that we have companies not paying anything at all, they should have a minimum tax of 15 percent. That would raise another $740 billion a year.

The idea that you're able to have a capital gains tax that you pay at the rate of 20 percent if you are -- if you're Mike Bloomberg or whomever that has a whole lot of money, and someone else who's paying at -- your staffer is paying at 25 percent is wrong. That would raise another $800 billion.

We should be rewarding work, not just wealth. And the American people, the middle class is getting killed, and the poor have no way up.

HOLT: All right, Vice President Biden, thank you. Chuck?

TODD: Mayor Buttigieg, I want to get you in on this, because, you know, in 2000, you wrote an award-winning essay. You praised Senator Sanders. You specifically praised him for embracing socialism. You have now since said that you are concerned about his policies.

But I am curious about this. Are you out of touch with your own generation, millennials by a big chunk embrace his version of democratic socialism, you do not. Are you out of touch with your generation?

BUTTIGIEG: No. Look, it's true that I was into Bernie before it was cool.

SANDERS: Thank you.

BUTTIGIEG: He was a congressman at the time. And the qualities I admired then are qualities I still respect a great deal. I never said that I agree with every part of his policy views, then or now. But I appreciate that at least he's straightforward and honest about them. He's honest about the fact that taxes will go up on anybody making more than $29,000 to fund his health care plan, although, again, a little bit vague about how the rest of that gets...

SANDERS: You're not being honest. Premiums would be eliminated.

BUTTIGIEG: But you're still raising those taxes. And when you do it...

SANDERS: But we're saving people money because they don't pay any premiums, out-of-pocket expenses, co-payments, or deductibles. They're going to be much better off.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: But where is -- where is the other $25 trillion supposed to come from? At a certain point, you've got to do the math.

SANDERS: Well, we got it all up there on the internet. It's a payroll tax -- a payroll tax...

(CROSSTALK)

BUTTIGIEG: Well, no, but even after the payroll tax, you still have a hole.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Because we have a wealth tax. Elizabeth has a good one. Ours is a little bit tougher on Mr. Bloomberg than hers. We're going to raise it in a progressive way, which deals with income and wealth inequality, and makes certain, finally, that health care in this country is a human right, not a privilege.

KLOBUCHAR: Could I...

TODD: Forty-five seconds. Senator Warren, I'm just going to close it out here. You went out of your way -- you went out of your way to call yourself a capitalist, to separate yourself...

WARREN: Yes, because I am.

TODD: ... from him. Why?

WARREN: Yes, because I am. Look, Democrats want to beat Donald Trump, but they are worried. They are worried about gambling on a narrow vision that doesn't address the fears of millions of Americans across this country who see real problems and want real change. They are worried about gambling on a revolution that won't bring along a majority of this country.

Amy and Joe's hearts are in the right place, but we can't be so eager to be liked by Mitch McConnell that we forget how to fight the Republicans.

(CROSSTALK)

WARREN: Mayor Buttigieg has been taking money from big donors and changing his positions.

BUTTIGIEG: That's just not true.

WARREN: So it makes it unclear what it is he stands for, other than his own...

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Senator, thank you. Senator Klobuchar, go ahead. You've got -- Senator Klobuchar -- Senator Klobuchar, go ahead, you've got the floor for 45. Go.

KLOBUCHAR: Thank you. Number one, I have repeatedly said that we have to win big. And the way we win big is winning states like Nevada, but also winning the Senate races in Arizona and in Colorado and beyond.

(APPLAUSE)

And the reason we want to do that is to send Mitch McConnell packing. And I think, when you look at my history, I am the one that has done that. I am the one that can lead this ticket. And just because I am willing to talk about common ground, that's where America is. It is not with Mitch McConnell, who has 400 bills on his desk that should pass if we get rid of him.

It is because I am willing to work...

HOLT: OK.

WARREN: May I respond?

KLOBUCHAR: ... with people and find common ground, and that's what we want in a president, Elizabeth.

(CROSSTALK)

KLOBUCHAR: We don't want someone that looks at just plans. The difference between...

HOLT: Senator, thank you. We need to take another break here. We'll return to the Paris Las Vegas in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLT: Welcome back to Las Vegas and the Democratic presidential debate. To kick off our next round of questioning, here's Hallie.

JACKSON: Mayor Buttigieg, to you. In 2018, Mayor Bloomberg was the biggest outside spender helping Democrats running for Congress. He's also donated billions toward causes like climate change, gun safety, education. If his money wasn't a problem then, why is it a problem now?

BUTTIGIEG: Oh, I think he should absolutely be doing everything in his power to defeat Donald Trump. I just don't think that has to result in him becoming the president of the United States.

Look, our party has values. We were built around values like making sure we protect working people. But Mayor Bloomberg opposed raising the minimum wage. Our party has a tradition that includes excellent presidents like Barack Obama, who Mayor Bloomberg opposed.

At the end of the day, it's not just about how much money you've got. It's what you stand for. And we are living in a moment when Americans are so deeply frustrated with the way that both Wall Street and Washington seem to have overlooked our lives.

The view from the porch of my one house in Indiana...

(LAUGHTER)

... is that they can't even see us sometimes. And if we're going into the election of our lives against a president who rose to power by cynically exploiting the frustration of ordinary Americans feeling like leaders weren't speaking to them, then I think that turning to someone like Mayor Bloomberg, who thinks he can buy this election, is no better a way to succeed than turning to somebody like Senator Sanders who wants to burn the house down.

JACKSON: Mr. Vice President?

BIDEN: You know, if you excuse a point of personal privilege, they used to say, it was said that I was in the pocket of Mitch McConnell. I'm the only person on this stage that's beaten Mitch McConnell on four major, major cases. Let me finish.

(APPLAUSE)

Let me finish. And Mitch McConnell -- I've been the object of his affection and the president's affection, the way he's gone after me, this new Republican party, after me, after my son, after my family. I don't need to be told I'm a friend of Mitch McConnell's. Mitch McConnell has been the biggest pain in my neck in a long, long time. And so that's number one.

Number two, we have to have somebody who understands what it's like for ordinary people. Ordinary people come up. They have to understand, like my dad made that longest walk up a short flight of stairs and said, "I don't have a job, honey, we have to move. You've got to move with Grandpa." How long it took to buy a house, how long it took to get back in the game again.

They have to understand the needs of ordinary people. And they are getting killed, no matter what people say about this economy, how good it is. And the good part of the economy, this -- it's only 60 seconds. It's not up yet.

And the fact is that we are in a situation where you have, Mayor, the -- excuse me, the president making clear that he doesn't want any part of me being his opponent. He's spending $125,000 this week to keep me from being the opponent. I wonder why.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Vanessa, to you.

WARREN: So can I respond to the vice president?

HAUC: Thank you, Hallie.

WARREN: He's identifying me specifically in this.

JACKSON: Forty-five seconds to you, Senator.

BIDEN: I was identified. I was responding to an accusation.

WARREN: So, no, the point is different. Here's what happened. According to the New York Times," the last time that Mitch McConnell was on the ballot, the vice president stood in the Oval Office and said, "I hope that Mitch gets reelected so I can keep working with him." Well, Mitch did get -- Mitch did get re-elected.

BIDEN: That's totally out of context.

WARREN: He did not have an epiphany. Instead, he blocked nearly everything that Barack Obama tried to pass.

BIDEN: Did you ever win anything?

WARREN: And he stole a Supreme Court seat from Democrats.

BIDEN: Come on.

WARREN: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

HAUC: Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator.

Our next question goes to Senator Klobuchar. About 700,000 young people known as Dreamers, or Sonadores, who were brought to this country as children, are currently protected from deportation because of a program that is now under the review by the Supreme Court. If the court sides with the Trump administration, which is eager to end this protection, what exactly is your plan to protect the Dreamers permanently?

KLOBUCHAR: To win, to beat Donald Trump. The best way to protect the Dreamers is to have a new president. There are the votes there to protect the Dreamers. And I have been working on this since I got to the United States Senate. In my first campaign, I actually had a bunch of ads run against me because I was standing up for immigrants.

And when I think of Dreamers -- and I try to explain it to my state -- I found a 99-year-old Hispanic war veteran who was a Dreamer when he was brought over to this country. And back then, he just went to Canada for a night and came back and he was a permanent citizen, because they needed him to serve in World War II. Now, not so easy.

The Dreamers are our future. The Dreamers are so important in Nevada. And the best way we can get this done is to beat Donald Trump, but it is to pass comprehensive immigration reform, which creates a path to citizenship to so many hard-working people, will bring down the deficit by $158 billion, and will bring peace for these Dreamers.

HAUC: Thank you so much, Senator.

KLOBUCHAR: They know no other country but our own.

HAUC: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

BUTTIGIEG: If you're going to run based on...

HAUC: Mayor Pete?

BUTTIGIEG: If you're going to run based on your record of voting in Washington, then you have to own those votes, especially when it comes to immigration. You voted to confirm the head of Customs and Border Protection under Trump, who is one of the architects of the family separation policy. You voted to make English the national language. Do you know the message that sends in as multilingual a state as Nevada to immigrants?

You have been unusual among Democrats, I think the Democrat among all of the senators running for president most likely to vote for Donald Trump's judges, who we know are especially hostile to Dreamers and to the rights of immigrants.

Now, in South Bend, it was not always easy to stand up in a conservative place like Indiana on immigration. But we delivered. We created a municipal ID program so that Dreamers and others who were undocumented were able to navigate everyday life. We stood up for those rights and stood with members of our community with the message that they were as American as we are. (speaking Spanish)

HAUC: Thank you. Gracias, gracias, Mayor Pete.

KLOBUCHAR: I wish...

HAUC: Senator Klobuchar?

KLOBUCHAR: I wish everyone was as perfect as you, Pete. But let me tell you what it's like to be in the arena. Number one, do the math. If my friend, Andrew Yang, was up here, that's what he'd say.

In fact, I have opposed, not supported, two-thirds of the Trump judges, so get your numbers right. And I am in the top 10 to 15 of opposing them.

Number two, when it comes to immigration reform, the things that you are referring to, that official that you are referring to was supported by about half the Democrats, including someone in this room. And I will say this: He was highly recommended by the Obama officials. Do you know why? Because Trump had so few career people.

I did not one bit agree with these draconian policies to separate kids from their parents. And in my first 100 days, I would immediately change that. And I would add one more thing. I have been in the arena.

HAUC: Thank you, Senator.

KLOBUCHAR: Ted Kennedy -- he had made a pretty big allegation against me again, and I think I should have a right to respond. He had...

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: I'm stating the facts, because these are votes that you took, and those votes set you alone among the Democrats running for president.

KLOBUCHAR: That is just...

BUTTIGIEG: No other -- is it true or is it false that no other Democrat from the Senate running for president voted that way?

KLOBUCHAR: First of all, it is -- what you've said about the judges are false. You are comparing me to two colleagues up here on this stage, and you are forgetting one thing.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, I would say anybody who ran for president this cycle, Senator Harris, Senator Booker saw through this.

KLOBUCHAR: You know what, Pete? If you could let me finish, since I've been in the arena. Ted Kennedy asked me to work on the first immigration bill. We were able with President Bush to at least get that bill to a vote. I'm sorry that Senator Sanders actually opposed that bill, and I worked on it. And if we had gotten that bill done, there would have been a path to citizenship for so many people.

Then I worked on the 2013 bill. I'm actually so proud of the work I have done on immigration reform. And you know what? You have not been in the arena doing that work. You've memorized a bunch of talking points and a bunch of things, but I can tell you one thing.

(APPLAUSE)

What the people of this country want, they want a leader that has the heart for the immigrants of this country, and that is me.

BUTTIGIEG: You know, maybe leading a diverse city that was facing ruin doesn't sound like the arena to you. I'm used to senators telling mayors that senators are more important than mayors, but this is the arena, too. You don't have to be in Washington to matter. You don't have to be on Capitol Hill for your work to be significant.

WARREN: Can we talk more...

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Guys, guys, we are at the end here. We are at the end here. I've got to let that one go.

We are less than two weeks away from a national primary. And I want to ask all of you this simple question. There's a very good chance none of you are going to have enough delegates to the Democratic National Convention to clench this nomination, OK?

If that happens, I want all of your opinions on this. Should the person with the most delegates at the end of this primary season be the nominee, even if they are short of a majority? Senator Sanders, I'm going to let you go last here, because I know your view on this.

(LAUGHTER)

So instead, I will start with you, Mayor Bloomberg.

BLOOMBERG: Whatever the rules of the Democratic Party are, they should be followed. And if they have a process, which I believe they do...

TODD: OK, I'm trying to do this yes or no to make it fast.

BLOOMBERG: ... everybody else -- everybody can...

TODD: So you want the convention to work its will?

BLOOMBERG: Yes.

TODD: Senator Warren?

WARREN: But a convention working its will means that people have the delegates that are pledged to them and they keep those delegates until you come to the convention.

TODD: Should the leading person?

WARREN: All of the people.

TODD: OK. All righty. Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: Play by the rules.

TODD: Yes or no, leading person with the delegates, should they be the nominee or not?

BIDEN: No, let the process work its way out.

TODD: Mayor Buttigieg?

BUTTIGIEG: Not necessarily. Not until there's a majority.

TODD: Senator Klobuchar?

KLOBUCHAR: Let the process work.

TODD: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Well, the process includes 500 super-delegates on the second ballot. So I think that the will of the people should prevail, yes. The person who has the most votes should become the nominee.

TODD: Thank you, guys. Five noes and a yes.

HOLT: We are not done yet. We're back with more from Las Vegas after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLT: Welcome back, everyone. It is time for closing statements. Each candidate will have one minute. And we begin with Senator Klobuchar.

KLOBUCHAR: This has been quite a debate.

(LAUGHTER)

And what I want everyone out there watching to remember is that what unites us is so much bigger than what divides us and that we need a candidate that can bring people with her.

(APPLAUSE)

Yes, a fired up Democratic base, but also independents and moderate Republicans. And I have done that every single time. I have won every race down to fourth grade. A lot of boasting up here, so thought I'd add that.

(LAUGHTER)

Secondly, you need someone who can govern. And I have passed over 100 bills as the lead Democrat.

And, third, you need someone that has the heart to be the president. They were talking a lot about heart conditions up here. We have a president right now that doesn't have a heart.

(APPLAUSE)

I love the people of this country. And I ask for the vote of the people of Nevada, because this state gets it. They get that maybe you don't agree with every single thing that's said on this debate stage, but we understand that the heart of America is bigger than any heart that guy has in the White House.

HOLT: Senator Klobuchar, Senator Klobuchar, thank you.

KLOBUCHAR: I ask you to join me at amyklobuchar.com. Thank you.

HOLT: Senator Klobuchar, thank you.

JACKSON: Mayor Bloomberg, to you.

BLOOMBERG: Well, you can join me at mikebloomberg.com, too, if you want, but I'm not asking for any money.

(LAUGHTER)

Look, this is a management job, and Donald Trump's not a manager. This is a job where you have to build teams. He doesn't have a team so he goes and makes decisions without knowing what's going on or the implications of what he does. We cannot run the railroad this way.

This country has to pull together and understand that the people that we elect -- and it's not just the president of the United States -- they should have experience, they should have credentials, they should understand what they're doing and the implications thereof.

And then we should as a society try to hold them accountable so the next time they go before the voters, if they haven't done the job, we shouldn't just say, oh, nice person, gives a good speech. We should say, didn't do the job and you're out of here.

JACKSON: Mr. Mayor, thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TODD: Mayor Buttigieg, one minute.

BUTTIGIEG: Nevada, I'm asking for your vote because America is running out of time and this is our only chance to defeat Donald Trump. If you look at the choice between a revolution or the status quo and you don't see where you fit in that picture, then join us. And, yes, go to peteforamerica.com and help out, because we need to draw everybody that we can who believes that we need to empower workers, who believes in climate science, who believes in doing something about gun violence and recognizes that the only way we can do this is to create a sense of belonging in this country that moves us out of the toxic and polarized moment that we are living in today.

I already see an American majority ready to do these things. Now we have a responsibility to galvanize, not polarize, that majority. We cannot afford to lean on the same Washington playbook. We cannot afford to alienate half the country. We must step forward into the future in order to win and in order to govern a country that will be facing issues the likes of which we barely thought of just a few years ago. I'm asking you to join me so that we can deliver that future together.

(APPLAUSE)

HAUC: Senator Warren?

WARREN: I grew up fighting. I grew up out in Oklahoma, and I learned it probably from my mother. I watched when my daddy had a heart attack and didn't have any money coming in, when our car was lost and when we were on the edge of losing our home. I watched my mother fight to save our family. And I grew up fighting to save our family, my family.

I eventually made it through school and spent my life as a teacher, and looking into why it is that so many families across this country are struggling and why it gets worse year after year after year.

I for years have fought for unions to say the way we're going to restructure this economy is we're going to get -- make it easier to join a union and get more power into unions. To fight for students who have been cut out of opportunity over and over because of the rising cost of an education.

Look, for me, I am -- of all the people on this stage, I have been a politician the shortest time, but I've been the one out fighting for families the longest time. I promise you this: Give me a chance, I'll go to the White House and I'll fight for your family.

HAUC: Thank you, Senator.

RALSTON: Vice President Biden?

BIDEN: I'm running because so many people...

PROTESTORS: (OFF-MIKE)

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

HOLT: Give us a moment. We'll clear the room and let -- and let -- Senator -- Senator Biden, you have one minute.

BIDEN: Look, I'm running because so many people are being left behind. People I grew up with in Scranton, when my dad lost his job, lost his house, had to move. We moved to Claymont, we found ourselves in a position where we had little ability to get anything done. And my dad worked like hell.

I've learned a lot. I've been knocked down a whole hell of a lot. I know what it's like to be knocked down. But I know we have to get back up. We have to provide some safety and security for the American people.

Right here in Nevada, the site of the most significant mass murder in American history, guns. Our kids are getting sent to school having to hide under desks, learning how to run down corridors to avoid being shot. It's immoral. I'm the only one that's beaten the NRA nationally, and I beat them twice.

With regard to health care, it also is something that is a right. Obamacare has to be expanded. It can be, in fact, cover everybody.

And lastly, I think it's important that on day one, day one, we deal with sending an immigration bill to the desk. The only person in here that has a worse record on immigration is Bernie, because Bernie voted against the 2007 bill.

HOLT: All right.

RALSTON: Thank you, thank you.

BIDEN: Had, in fact, that immigration bill passed, there would be -- 6 million members would be now American citizens.

HOLT: All right. Senator Sanders, you have one minute for your closing remarks.

(APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: Unfortunately, LULAC, among other groups, Latino groups, saw that bill having provisions akin to slavery, Joe.

But the bottom line is, all of us are united in defeating the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country. That we agree on. But where we don't agree, I think, is why we are today the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people, why three people own more wealth than the bottom half of America, when 500,000 people sleep out on the street, why hundreds of thousands of bright young kids can't afford to go to college, and 45 million remain in student debt.

Bottom line here: Real change never takes place from the top on down, never takes place from an oligarchy controlled by billionaires. We need to mobilize millions of people to stand up for justice. That's our campaign. Join us as berniesanders.com. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

HOLT: Senator, thank you. Folks, thank you. That concludes tonight's debate. Our thanks to my fellow moderators, to the candidates, and of course, to all of you, the audience here and at home. The Nevada caucuses are this Saturday with the South Carolina primary just one week later. Then the big prize, Super Tuesday, on March 3rd. We'll be following it all for you.

For now, for all of us at NBC News, I'm Lester Holt. Good day.

George S.: (00:14)
Candidates, welcome. Vice President Biden, the first question is for you. In the last few days, you've been saying that Democrats will be taking too big a risk if they nominate Senator Sanders or Mayor Buttigieg, but they came out on top in Iowa. What risks did the Iowa Democrats miss?

Joe Biden: (00:32)
Oh, they didn't miss anything. It's a long race. I took a hit in Iowa and I'll probably take a hit here. Traditionally Bernie won by 20 points last time. And usually it's the neighboring senators that do well. But no matter what, I'm still in this for the same reason, we have to restore the soul of this country, bring back the middle class and make sure we bring people together. And so it's a simple proposition. It doesn't matter whether it's this one or the next. I've always viewed the first four encounters, two primaries, and two caucuses as the starting point. And so that's how I view it.

George S.: (01:08)
Why are Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg too big a risk for Democrats?

Joe Biden: (01:12)
Well, you know that with regard to Senator Sanders, the President wants very much to sic a label on every candidate. We're going to not only have to win this time, we have to bring along the United States Senate. And Bernie's labeled himself, not me, a democratic socialist. I think that's the label that the President's going to lay on everyone running with Bernie if he's a nominee. And a Mayor Buttigieg is a great guy and a real patriot. He's a mayor of a small city, who has done some good things but has not demonstrated he has the ability to, and we'll soon find out, to get a broad scope of support across the spectrum, including African Americans and Latinos.

George S.: (01:53)
Senator Sanders, let me give you the chance to respond first. President Trump certainly thinks this label socialism will work. At the State of the Union, he said, "Socialism destroys nations. He's never going to let socialism destroy American healthcare." And before the Super Bowl, he joked was Sean Hannity about your honeymoon in Moscow. Those hits are going to keep coming if you're the nominee. Why shouldn't Democrats be worried?

Bernie Sanders: (02:14)
Because Donald Trump lies all the time. It doesn't matter what Donald Trump says, it's a sad state of affairs, it really is. He will say terrible things about Joe, he has [inaudible 00:02:32] ugly, disgusting things about Elizabeth, about Amy, about anybody else who was up here. But I think George, that at the end of the day, the way we defeat Donald Trump and everybody up here by the way, is united. No matter who wins this damn thing, we're all going to stand together to defeat Donald Trump.

Bernie Sanders: (02:55)
I believe that the way we beat Trump is by having the largest voter turnout in the history of this country. And that is appealing to working class people, who have given up on the political process because they don't believe that anybody is hearing their pain, perceiving that pain, feeling their pain. And we got to bring young people into the political process. I am very proud that in Iowa we won the popular vote by 6,000 votes. What was most significant, most significant, is we increased voter turnout for young people under 29 by over 30%. If we do that nationally, we're going to defeat Donald Trump.

George S.: (03:34)
But Senator, let me follow up there and then we'll move on. But back in Iowa, the turn out this year was about the same as it was in 2016. Far below what it was in 2008 when President Obama won.

Bernie Sanders: (03:46)
That's true. And that's the disappointment and I think all of us probably could have done a better job in bringing out our supporters. But if there is a good spot, a good aspect about that campaign, is that young people came out in higher numbers than they did during Obama's historic 2008 campaign. And if that happens nationally, we're going to win and defeat Trump.

George S.: (04:09)
Before I move on to Mayor Buttigieg, let me just ask, is anyone else on the stage concerned about having a democratic socialist at the top of the Democratic ticket?

Bernie Sanders: (04:20)
I'm not.

George S.: (04:21)
Senator Klobuchar.

Amy Klobuchar: (04:24)
Bernie and I work together all the time. But I think we are not going to be able to out divide the divider in chief. And I think we need someone to head up this ticket that actually brings people with her, instead of shutting them out. And when I look at a state like New Hampshire that had a very, very close election last time in 2016, I see a state that, yes, has a high voter turnout, fired-up Democrats just like my state, which by the way, Bernie, when I led the ticket, had the highest voter turnout of any state in the country. But I add to that being able to bring in independents like you have in this state as well as moderate Republicans. Because there are so many of them out there that are looking for a candidate. And truthfully, Donald Trump's worst nightmare is a candidate that will bring people in from the middle. The people that are tired of the noise and the nonsense. And they are tired of the tweets and the mean stuff and they are looking for someone else. And I would submit that that is me.

George S.: (05:29)
Mr. Steyer, is socialism [inaudible 00:05:33]

Tom Steyer: (05:34)
I don't think there's any question, George, that after this week there's a real threat that Donald Trump can get reelected. And I don't think there's any question, but that the only way that we're going to beat him actually is the way that Bernie Sanders said, which is to get turnout across the spectrum of democratic voters. And that means we're going to have to appeal across the spectrum, moderates, progressives and every group. So unless you can appeal to the diverse parts of the Democratic Party, including specifically the black community, including specifically Latinos. If you can't do that, then we can't beat Donald Trump in November and we can't choose a candidate who can't do that. And I am doing that right now with 24% of blacks down in South Carolina, with high numbers in Nevada. That's what it's going to take is turnout, but turnout across the spectrum of democratic voters. Someone who can pull, as Amy said, everything together in every single way we're divided.

George S.: (06:35)
Andrew Yang and Senator Warren then Mayor Buttigieg.

Andrew Yang: (06:39)
First, let me say America, it's great to be back on the debate stage. Thank you. I'm so excited, I want to give every American $1,000 a month. George, the entire capitalism, socialism dichotomy is completely out of date and the fact is when people were talking about these economic models, they did not foresee technology getting stronger, more powerful, capable of doing the work of thousands of humans in the blink of an eye. We have record high corporate profits in this country right now, but people in New Hampshire know, what else are at record highs? Mental illness, stress, debt, substance abuse, overdoses, suicides. What we have to do is actually get the markets working to improve our family's way of life. Instead of following GDP and corporate profits off a cliff, we should be measuring our own health and wellness, life expectancy, mental health and freedom from substance abuse, clean air, and clean water, how our kids are doing. The way forward is a new human centered version of capitalism that actually uses the markets to improve our family's lives.

George S.: (07:46)
Senator Warren, you reportedly said back in 2018, "I'm a capitalist to my bones." Senator Sanders says, "I'm not." Is that your biggest difference with Senator Sanders?

Elizabeth Warren: (07:57)
Oh, Bernie and I have been friends for a long time and we have a lot of things in common and we can have a lot of things that we differ on. But there's fundamental question about how we bring our party together. We have to think about it in new ways. People across this country, whether they're Democrats, independents, or Republicans, understand that we've got a government right now that works great for those at the top. Works great for giant drug companies, just not for people trying to get a prescription filled. Works great for oil companies that want to drill everywhere, just not for the rest of us who see climate change bearing down upon us. When you see a government that works great for those who can hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers and make big campaign donations and it's not working so great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple, and we need to call it out for what it is. Corruption, and that's what we can run on. We bring our party together.

Elizabeth Warren: (08:54)
It's an issue we can all agree on and fight for to end the corruption. We're the Democrats, we should be the party on the side of hardworking people and we can bring in independents and Republicans on that. They hate the corruption as well. My anti-corruption plan, good for Republicans and Democrats. That's not only how we bring our party together. That's how we're going to win in November.

George S.: (09:21)
Mayor Buttigieg, early in the campaign you said that the word socialism has lost its power, it's mostly lost its meaning. Do you believe that or worry it could be a potent weapon in a general election?

Pete Buttigieg: (09:32)
I'm not interested in the labels. I'm not interested in what Republicans are going to say. I'm interested in the style of politics that we need to put forward to actually, finally turn the page. In order to win, yes, but also in order to govern. This is a moment where the next president is going to face challenges the likes of which we hadn't even thought of a few years or decades ago. And politically, we're facing a fundamentally new problem with President Donald Trump. So the biggest risk we could take at a time like this would be to go up against that fundamentally new challenge by trying to fall back on the familiar. Or trying to unite this country at a moment when we need that kind of unification, when our nominee is dividing people with a politics that says, if you don't go all the way to the edge, it doesn't count. A politics that says, it's my way or the highway.

George S.: (10:32)
Are you talking about Senator Sanders?

Pete Buttigieg: (10:32)
Yes. Because we've got to bring as many people as we can into this process. Look, all of us have been saying that we can build the majority that it's going to take in order to win. But the process of actually proving it is now underway. And now it comes to New Hampshire, a state that thinks for itself, is not going to be told what to do by anyone and that has a very independent streak that is going to respond to those who are reaching out in a politics of addition and inclusion and belonging. Not one that beats people over the head and says they shouldn't even be on their side if we don't agree 100% of the time.

George S.: (11:11)
Senator Sanders, your response.

Bernie Sanders: (11:13)
Needless to say, I've never said that, but let me tell you what I do say. The way you bring people together is by presenting an agenda that works for the working people of this country, not for the billionaire class. The way you bring people together, Republicans, independents, Democrats, progressives, conservatives, you raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. The way you bring people together is to make it clear that we're not going to give tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations, they're going to start paying their fair share of taxes. That's what the American people want. And I'll tell you something else, the way you bring people together is by ending the international disgrace of this country being the only major nation on Earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right. And you bring people together by telling the pharmaceutical industry they're not going to charge us 10 times more for the same prescription drugs as the people in Canada that borders on New Hampshire. That's how you bring people together and you defeat Donald Trump.

George S.: (12:27)
Mayor Buttigieg, you just heard Senator Sanders make healthcare the center of his piece. Do you think his healthcare plan can bring people together?

Pete Buttigieg: (12:34)
I think there's a better way. It's true, the American people are ready. There's a historic majority right now, even broader than what was available to President Obama a decade ago. There is now a majority ready to act to make sure there is no such thing as an uninsured American and no such thing as an unaffordable prescription. Just so long as we don't command people to accept a public plan if they don't want to. That's the idea of Medicare for All Who Want It. My point is, what I am offering is campaigning for all of these things that America wants. Yes, higher wages, doubling the rate of unionization in this country, making corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share, delivering healthcare and college affordability. But also offering a way to do these game changing transformations that will actually galvanize and energize, not polarize the American people. That is not only what we need in order to win, it's what we need in order to govern and actually get these things done.

George S.: (13:31)
Vice President Biden, how do you unify the country?

Joe Biden: (13:34)
Look, Bernie says that you have to bring people together and we have to have Medicare for All. But Bernie says, and he says he wrote the damn thing, but he's unwilling to sell us with the damn thing's going to cost. The fact that we're in New Hampshire, very levelheaded group of people, look at the numbers. How much is it going to cost? Who's going to pay for it? It will cost more than the entire, the entire federal budget we spend now, more than entire budget. The idea middle class taxes aren't going to go up is just crazy. When they did it in Vermont, what happened? They doubled the state income tax and then had a 14% tax on withholding. And they finally did away with it. So how much is it going to cost? When you ask Bernie that, and I'll ask him again tonight sometime, and if you ask Bernie that, he says, "Go figure, I don't know, we'll find out."

Joe Biden: (14:28)
I think that was on CBS. He said, " We'll find out." Or something to that effect. Imagine you're going to unite the country walking into the Congress, "I got this bill. It's going to require Medicare for everybody. I can't tell you how much it's going to cost. We'll find out later and it's likely to be double whatever … everything we spent in the federal government." Who do you think is going to get that passed? I busted my neck getting Obamacare passed, getting every Democratic vote. I know how hard it is.

George S.: (14:53)
Senator Sanders.

Bernie Sanders: (14:56)
Well, for a start, what the studies show, if we do what Joe wants, we'll be spending some $50 trillion on healthcare over the next 10 years. That's the status quo, Joe. That's what Health and Human Services says. [crosstalk 00:15:15] And what we have got to do Joe, and what we have got to do is understand, simple question, Joe, we are spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as do the people of any other country. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the healthcare industry last year made $100 billion in profit. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we are wasting $500 billion a year trying to administer thousands and thousands of different plans. What Medicare for All will do is save the average American substantial sums of money. Substantial, be much less expensive than your plan. And we will expand Medicare to include dental care, eyeglasses, hearing aides and home health care as well.

George S.: (16:03)
Vice President Biden, 30 second response, then Senator Klobuchar after that.

Joe Biden: (16:07)
30 second-

George S.: (16:09)
Yeah, 30 second-

Joe Biden: (16:09)
30 second response. My proposal gives you a choice. You're going to be covered. You have Medicare if you want it, you turn [inaudible 00:16:16] we're going to restore all the cuts that they made in Obamacare. We're going to reduce drug prices, reduce prescription prices, reduce copays, et cetera. And it cost a lot of money, it costs $750 billion over 10 years. I tell you how I'm going to pay for it. I'm going to raise the capital gains rates, you pay capital gains and what your tax rate is. That'll pay for it, that's $800 billion. But here's the deal, the fact is that it's going to cost … Bernie's plan costs double, double what the taxpayers are paying for every single program we spend on in the United States of America.

George S.: (16:49)
Senator Klobuchar.

Amy Klobuchar: (16:50)
I keep listening to this same debate, and it is not real. It is not real, Bernie, because two thirds of the Democrats in the Senate are not on your bill and because it would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance in four years. And let me say what else, Elizabeth wants to do it in two years. And Pete, while you have a different plan now you sent out a tweet just a few years ago that said, henceforth, forewith, indubitably, affirmatively, you are for Medicare for All for the ages. And so I would like to point out that what leadership is about is taking a position, looking at things and sticking with them. I have long believed that the way that we expand healthcare to more people and bring down premiums is by building on the Affordable Care Act, with a nonprofit public option. That is the best way to do it.

Amy Klobuchar: (17:42)
And practically look at this, the Affordable Care Act is now nearly 10 points more popular than the President of United States. So why would we talk about blowing it up? What we need to do is build on it. Mental health care, addiction, longterm care, those are the things that would make it better for everyone.

George S.: (18:00)
Senator Warren and Mayor Buttigieg, you were both invoked. I want you each to respond and then go back to Senator Sanders.

Elizabeth Warren: (18:05)
So I think we need to think about healthcare a little differently and that is, 36 million Americans last year couldn't afford to have a prescription filled and that includes people with health insurance. I want everyone in here to think about what that means. They were worried enough or sick enough that they went to a doctor, a doctor looked at it and says that's serious enough to write a prescription. They walked out and then said, it's either that or groceries. It's that or pay them rent on time. We have got to change our healthcare system. The way [no audio or video 00:18:34] Help to the most people as quickly as we can. How about we start with what a president can do, I love saying this, all by herself. On day one, I will defend the Affordable Care Act and I will use march in orders to reduce the cost of commonly used prescription drugs like insulin and HIV, AIDS, drugs and EpiPens.

Elizabeth Warren: (19:02)
We can start making healthcare better for Americans from the beginning, but we have to agree to do that. We are the Democrats, we are on the side of expanding healthcare. When we come up against Donald Trump, the team that has been trying to take away healthcare from millions of people, what's going to matter most is we are the people on the side of those who need healthcare across this country. That's who Democrats are.

George S.: (19:29)
Mayor Buttigieg, I want you to respond to that, but also take on the argument at the beginning from the Vice President, you don't have the right experience to be president.

Pete Buttigieg: (19:35)
Sure. Well, first of all, just to be clear, the truth is that I have been consistent throughout in my position on delivering healthcare for every American. And as to experience, I just bring a different perspective. Look, I freely admit that if you're looking for the person with the most years of Washington establishment experience under their belt, you've got your candidate, and of course it's not me. The perspective I'm bringing is that of somebody whose life has been shaped by the decisions that are made in those big white buildings in Washington, D.C. Somebody who has guided a community written off as dying just a decade ago through historic transformation. Somebody who knows what it means to be sent to war on orders that come out of the Situation Room. We need a perspective right now that will finally allow us to leave the politics of the past in the past. Turn the page and bring change to Washington before it's too late.

George S.: (20:27)
Vice President Biden, there's his answer.

Joe Biden: (20:29)
The politics of the past I think were not all that bad. I wrote the Violence Against Women Act. I managed the $900 billion Recovery Act, which in fact put millions and millions of dollars into his city before he came and helped save his city. I was able to do it, I was able to pass the chemical weapons ban, arms control. And I was the first major leader holding public office to call for same sex marriage. So I don't know what about the past of Barack Obama and Joe Biden was so bad. What happened? What is it that he wants to do away with? We were just beginning.

Joe Biden: (21:03)
… Happened, what is it that he wants to do away with? We were just beginning. It was just the beginning of what will be the future of moving this country beyond where it is now in significant ways, and there's ways to do that, and one of the ways to do that is to make sure you have someone who knows how to get things done, and can lead the free world at the same time.

George S.: (21:18)
Mayor Buttigieg respond, and then Senator Sanders.

Pete Buttigieg: (21:23)
Those achievements were phenomenally important, because they met the moment, but now we have to meet this moment. And this moment is different. The next president is going to face challenges from global health security, like what we're seeing coming out of China, to cybersecurity, and election security challenges that were barely thought of a few years ago. And here at home, we're seeing things like gig work, transform what it means to be a worker in America, in ways that were barely conceived of not that long ago. We cannot solve the problems before us by looking back. We have to be ready to turn the page, and change our politics before it's too late. And I'm seeing everywhere I go, not just fellow Democrats, but a striking number of independents, and, what I like to call future former Republicans ready to join in that historic American majority to turn the page.

George S.: (22:15)
Senator Klobuchar.

Amy Klobuchar: (22:17)
I am listening to this about meeting the moment, and my first thought is, I'm a fresh face up here for a presidential debate, and I figure, Pete, that 59, my age, is the new 38 up here. The second thing I think about is this, and that is-

Bernie Sanders: (22:37)
70 is the new 50.

Amy Klobuchar: (22:37)
Okay, there you go. Meeting the moment, meeting the moment, we had a moment the last few weeks, mayor, and that moment was these impeachment hearings. And there was a lot of courage that you saw from only a few people. There was courage from Doug Jones, our friend of Alabama, who took that tough vote. There was courage from Mitt Romney, who took it very, very difficult vote. There was courage, as I read today, about Lieutenant Colonel Vindman being escorted out of the White House, what he did took courage. But what you said, Pete, as you were campaigning through Iowa, as three of us were jurors in that impeachment hearing, you said it was exhausting to watch, and that you wanted to turn the channel and watch cartoons.

Amy Klobuchar: (23:24)
It is easy to go after Washington, because that's a popular thing to do. It is much harder, as I see Senator Shaheen in the front row, such a leader, it is much harder to lead, and much harder to take those difficult positions. Because I think this going after every single thing that people do, because it's popular to say, and makes you look like a cool newcomer. I just, I don't think that's what people want right now. We have a newcomer in the White House, and look where it got us. I think having some experience is a good thing.

Bernie Sanders: (23:56)
George, George, can I…

George S.: (23:56)
Senator Sanders, then Mayor Buttigieg.

Andrew Yang: (23:57)
George, can I say…

Bernie Sanders: (24:01)
Look, at the end of the day, we got to ask ourselves a very simple question, whether it's healthcare in fact, or anything else. Why are we the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people? Pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Have 87 million people uninsured or under-insured? 30,000 die because they don't get to a doctor on time, and 500,000 people going bankrupt, for what reason? Because they have cancer or heart disease, or Alzheimer's. We got to ask that question, why is it why? Why have we been talking about healthcare in this country for a hundred years, and here is the answer. If you want real change in healthcare, at the end of the day, you're going to have to take on the insurance companies, and tell them the function of healthcare is healthcare for all, not huge profits for the insurance companies. You're going to have to take on the drug companies, and their corruption, and their price fixing, and tell them, "Sorry, we're not going to pay 10 times more for prescription drugs, than do the people of other country." But at the end of the day, there's no way around it. You may want to nibble around the edges, but ultimately, you need to rally the American people to tell the drug companies, to tell Wall Street, to tell the insurance companies, to tell the fossil fuel industry this country belongs to all of us, not a handful of special interests.

George S.: (25:28)
Mayor Buttigieg, wrap this up, and then-

Tom Steyer: (25:31)
I have heard this conversation on this debate stage from these people now every single debate, and they're all right, everybody on this stage is better on economic justice and healthcare than anybody in the Republican party, and a million times better than Donald Trump. That is not the question in front of us today. The question in front of us today is, how are we going to beat Donald Trump? You were in the Clinton campaign in 1992, and the mantra was, "It's the economy, stupid." Well, if you look at what Mr. Trump is saying, he's saying those words, "It's the economy, stupid." I trust every one of these people a million times more, but we're going to have to take Mr. Trump down on the economy, because if you listen to him, he's crowing about it every single day, and he's going to beat us unless we can take him down on the economy, stupid. And that's the issue here. It is not about who has the best healthcare plan. All the healthcare plans are better, a million times better.

Tom Steyer: (26:24)
The question is, who can go toe to toe with Mr. Trump? Who can take down Mr. Trump, because he's the real threat to the country? And let me say, you have to have experience to take him down. This is not a question of he's a nice guy who's going to listen. We need people with experience. That's why I'm worried about Mayor Pete. You need to be able to go toe to toe with this guy, and take him down on the debate stage, or we're going to lose. And that's actually the issue in front of democratic voters. I have heard this debate so many darn times, and I love all these people, and they're all right. If we win, we can get the right thing, Bernie. I am with you. If we win, we can get the right thing, Pete, and Amy, but we got to win, or we are in deep trouble, and we keep not talking about the facts.

George S.: (27:06)
Mayor Pete.

Pete Buttigieg: (27:17)
Here's how we're going to win. We're going to force this president to stand on that debate stage, next to somebody who actually lives in a middle class neighborhood, in the industrial Midwest, in the exact kind of community that he pretends to speak for, but turns his back on. We're going to put up somebody who's not afraid to call out things like his disgraceful behavior at the national prayer breakfast, and remind Americans that God does not belong to a political party. We're going to win by having somebody up there who can call him to account for his refusal to serve when it was his turn, and remind him what serving this country is really about. If we want to beat this president, we've got to be ready to move on from the playbook that we have relied on in the past, and unify this country around a new and better vision. That's how we're going to win. And when I talk about exhaustion, this is important, because I got to tell you, the American people, from outside of Washington, we feel a sense of exhaustion watching the division, and the dysfunction there.

Pete Buttigieg: (28:21)
And that is not to take anything away from the very good work that you and our other democratic members of Congress, and the Senate are doing. It's not. But, the reason I raise that sense of exhaustion is I see it. I see that temptation to walk away from it all among so many people that I've spoken to in communities from Claremont to Manchester, and in the other states that we're in. And the important thing for the American people to remember, is this is 2020, it's an election year. And if the Senate was the jury before, you are the jury now. The American people are the jury that will have the final verdict on this president, and on the senators in the GOP who protected him.

Andrew Yang: (28:58)
Pete, fundamentally, you are missing the lesson of Donald Trump's victory. Donald Trump is not the cause of all of our problems, and we're making a mistake when we act like he is.

Pete Buttigieg: (29:08)
That's right.

Andrew Yang: (29:11)
He is a symptom of a disease that has been building up in our communities for years, and decades. And it is our job to get to the harder work of actually curing the disease. Most Americans feel like the political parties have been playing you lose, I lose, you lose, I lose for years. And you know who's been losing this entire time? We have. Our communities have. Our communities way of life is disintegrating beneath our feet. That's why Iowa, traditional swing state, went to Trump by almost 10 points. That's why Ohio, a traditional swing state is now so red, that I'm told we're not even going to campaign there.

Andrew Yang: (29:45)
So, these communities are seeing their way of life get blasted into smithereens. We've automated away four million manufacturing jobs, and counting. We're closing 30% of New Hampshire stores and malls, and Amazon, the force behind that, is literally paying zero in taxes. These are the changes that Americans are seeing and feeling around us every day, and if we get done the hard work of curing those problems, we will not just defeat Donald Trump in the fall, but we'll actually be able to move our communities forward.

George S.: (30:12)
I know we're going to hear a lot more on this, but we're going to move on.

Speaker 1: (30:15)
Thank you George. Good evening candidates. We come to you, of course, just 48 hours after the acquittal of President Trump. A process that has certainly crystallized the divide in our country. Senator Warren, want to start with you. You have said that on day one of your presidency, one of your first orders of business will be to order your justice department to launch new investigations into the Trump Administration. After a grueling impeachment, and what is likely to be a polarizing election, is investigating President Trump the best way to try to unify the country?

Elizabeth Warren: (30:46)
Look, I think no one is above the law, and that includes the President of the United States. We watched on Wednesday as Republicans, all but one locked arms to protect him from impeachment, but we need to reestablish the rule of law in this country. I believe in an independent commission, in our justice department that investigates crimes committed by our own government. It is an important part of accountability. It is an important part for every administration, that we hold ourselves accountable to the American people. Look, people around this country are losing faith in our government. They're losing faith that government works for them. They see a government that just works great if you're rich. It works great if you're a lobbyist. It works great if you're a corporate executive, but they see themselves and their children with less and less and less, and we could do something about it.

Elizabeth Warren: (31:50)
It's not enough simply to talk about the future. We have to be willing to stand up to those who now control our government, and make that government instead work for us. We can do child care in this country for every baby. We can invest in our public schools. We can cancel student loan debt for 43 million Americans, but only if we are willing to take control of our government away from the giant corporations and billionaires, return it to the people. This is about our government. This is about our democracy. This is about our future.

Speaker 1: (32:29)
Mr. Yang, you said that the notion of a leader quote, throwing the president before them in jail is not the way things are done here in the United States. It would make it quote, very hard for any party to govern sustainably moving forward. Does that mean that any alleged misconduct by the president or his administration should not be investigated?

Andrew Yang: (32:49)
There are of course limits, and you have to see what the facts are on the ground after you assume office, but the fact is, if you look around the world, the countries that have thrown past presidents into jail, have generally been developing countries, and unfortunately that's a pattern that once you establish, is very, very hard to break. What's a more American tradition? We move the country forward. We don't focus on the mistakes of the leaders that are leaving office. Most Americans do not care about what a particular individual did, so much as they care about their family's wellbeing, their community, their town. That's where Americans focus wants. They want the American president. They want the present. Of course, the American president, sorry about that. They want the president to be focused on that, and that's where our attention should be. We should not fall into a pattern that has been disastrous in other countries.

Speaker 1: (33:36)
Senator Sanders.

Bernie Sanders: (33:40)
Along with Elizabeth and Amy, we sat for two weeks listening to the impeachment process, and here's what I think the horror and the danger of what happened was not only the acquittal of Trump, who in fact committed impeachable offenses, and obstructed Congress. It is the precedent that it set. The precedent that it set. And what that precedent is about now is in the future, you're going to have presidents who say, "Hey, governor, you want highway money? You better support me, or you're not going to get it." Because I am the president, I can do anything I want.

Bernie Sanders: (34:20)
Hey, Congress, you want to investigate me? Don't be ridiculous. Who cares about the Congress? Who cares about the separation of powers? Who cares about the constitution of the president? I'm the President of the United States. I have all of the power, and I'm able to intimidate members of my own party. The saddest aspect of this whole thing, is you have Republicans in the Senate who knew better. They knew that Donald Trump is a crook. They knew that Donald Trump is a cheat, but they didn't have the guts, with the exception of Romney to vote against him. That is a sad day.

Speaker 1: (34:54)
Mr. Steyer.

Tom Steyer: (34:58)
So, I did start the Need to Impeach movement in October of 2017. And my father was one of the people who prosecuted the Nazi war criminals after World War II. And that's part of the reason I started it. Because when you see something really wrong in the United States, you're supposed to stand up against it, and fight against it. And that's what I was doing. But he's been, the Republicans have rolled over, they've had a sham trial, they've refused to have witnesses. They've covered up the truth for the American people. And it doesn't matter anymore that he's a crook, and he's always been a crook, and he always will be a crook. Right now, what we have to do is we have to beat him in November, and we have to beat him because he's incompetent, and bad for the American people. And that's the case we have to make now.

Tom Steyer: (35:45)
Is he a crook? I knew that two years ago. Is he going to be more of a crook, now that he believes he can get away with anything? Of course he is. But the job of the people on this stage is to beat him in November, and that's going to be based on what we can deliver for the American people. The fact that he's incompetent as a president, his economy isn't delivering for working people. The jobs don't pay enough for people to live on. We've got to take him down on the economy, and get them out of the White House as soon as possible.

Speaker 1: (36:15)
Thank you Mr. Steyer. Impeachment is of course over. But Republicans in Congress have already started investigating vice president Biden's son, Hunter. Mayor Buttigieg, do you think that there's a danger for the democratic party to nominate a candidate who is still under the threat of investigation?

Pete Buttigieg: (36:30)
No, and we're not going to let them change the subject. This is not about Hunter Biden, or vice president Biden, or any Biden. This is about an abuse of power by the president. The vice president and I and all of us are competing. But we've got to draw a line here. And to be the kind of president, to be the kind of human being who would seek to turn someone against his own son, who would seek to weaponize a son against his own father, is an unbelievably dishonorable thing, that is just one more example of why we as a party have to be completely united in doing whatever it takes at the end of the day to make sure that this president does not get a second term.

Speaker 1: (37:19)
Vice president Biden.

Joe Biden: (37:19)
I thank my colleague for saying that. It is a diversion, but here's the deal. Whomever the nominee is, the president's going to make up lies about. He thinks he has free reign right now. One of the things that I think is really important is we have to be authentic with the American people about what we're going to do and how we're going to do it. And by the way, Colonel Vindman got thrown out of the White House, walked out. I think at the same time, he should have been pinning a medal on Vindman, and not on rush Limbaugh. And I think we should all stand and give Colonel Vindman a show of how much we supported him. Stand up and clap for Vindman. Get up there. Who we are. That's who we are. We are not what Trump is.

Speaker 1: (38:11)
Thank you Vice President Biden. The Democratic party's last presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton has criticized Senator Bernie Sanders track record in the senate.

Bernie Sanders: (38:23)
I wasn't able to hear that question.

Speaker 1: (38:24)
Okay sure. The democratic party's last presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton has criticized Senator Bernie Sanders record in the senate, saying, "Nobody likes him. Nobody wants to work with him. He got nothing done." Senator Klobuchar, you served with Senator Sanders in the Senate. Is he going to be able to get the support? Not if you like him, but is he going to be able to get the support that he needs from Republicans?

Amy Klobuchar: (38:49)
I like Bernie just fine. We actually have worked together on a number of things, including pharmaceuticals. We actually had a vote late at night one time, Klobuchar/ Sanders amendment to bring in less-

Bernie Sanders: (39:00)
I thought it was Sanders/Klobuchar?

Amy Klobuchar: (39:03)
Nope, nope, nope, it was not, it was not. To bring in less expensive drugs from other countries, since in this great state of New Hampshire, like in Minnesota and Vermont, we can see Canada from our porch. And we ended up getting I think 14 Republican votes. And they might not have noticed what was happening late at night, but we got those. And I think that it is just an example of what we need to do here, because I've been listening to this discussion. I agree with my colleagues, we must unite, but the way that we unite is by having an optimistic economic agenda for America. That is what we must do, and that means taking on a president, if you want to talk about being tough enough to take him on.

Amy Klobuchar: (39:46)
Taking on a president that literally went down to Mar-a-Lago after he signed that Republican tax bill, and looked at all his friends and said, "You just got a lot richer." That is exhibit A for those carpenters in Pennsylvania, and those dairy farmers in Wisconsin, and those dock workers that I met with in Michigan. That is an exhibit A, and we have to be able to make the case to the working people of this country, some of whom voted for Donald Trump, that we have something better to offer. That we are going to take those incredibly regressive parts of that tax bill, and put that money into their childcare, into their healththere.

Speaker 1: (40:25)
Senator, just a quick yes or no. Do you think that Senator Sanders will be able to get Republican support in order to pass his bills?

Amy Klobuchar: (40:32)
That, I don't know. I know we did on that bill, but the point is, I think we're better off with someone that has the receipts. Someone that has actually won big time with Republicans and independents, and I'm the only one up on this stage, you can check it out, that has consistently won in red congressional districts. Not once, not twice, but three times. And when I did this, I didn't just do it for me. I led a ticket. I've flipped the state house every single time, because I have a way of working with people, that I think should be valued here as we look at these candidates, and it's one of the reasons that I got the New York Times endorsement, along with Elizabeth, and that I got the endorsements of the three major papers here in New Hampshire, which is the Union Leader, the Seacoast papers, and the Keene Sentinel. I think that matters. Read those editorials, and you will get a sense of what I'm about.

Speaker 1: (41:22)
Thank you Senator. Senator Sanders.

Bernie Sanders: (41:27)
I must confess, I don't get too many newspaper editorial support. Must confess that.

Amy Klobuchar: (41:32)
Well, you the Conway endorsement.

Bernie Sanders: (41:34)
I did. We're very proud of that.

Amy Klobuchar: (41:36)
There we go.

Bernie Sanders: (41:37)
But, let me just say this. I think the question started off with Secretary Clinton's critique. I think, quite honestly, as we face one of the great political crises facing America, our job is to look forward and not back to 2016. And I hope that Secretary Clinton and all of us can come together, and move in that direction. Now, second of all, in terms of Republicans, let me say…

Bernie Sanders: (42:03)
-in that direction. Now, second of all, in terms of Republicans, let me say that in my own great state of Vermont, if my memory is correct, Amy, I got 25% of the Republican vote. And in fact, there were periods when I was in the House of Representatives, a number of years where I passed more amendments on the floor of the House in a bipartisan way than any other member of the House and that is when you bring people together on an issue. There are many conservative Republicans, for example, who are concerned about civil liberties, at least they used to be concerned about civil liberties. There are Republicans, as you know, who are concerned about the high cost of prescription drugs. There are ways that we can work with Republicans on issues where we have a common basis.

Lindsey: (42:57)
Thank you, Senator.

Bernie Sanders: (42:57)
Let's do that.

Lindsey: (42:57)
David.

David Muir: (42:59)
Lindsey, thank you. Good evening, all. I want to turn to America's role in the world and readiness to be commander-in-chief on day one. Just this week, you saw it, during the State of the Union, President Trump offered an indication of what he'll tout on the campaign trail. He celebrated the US air strike that killed top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani saying, "Soleimani was the Iranian regime's most ruthless butcher, a monster who murdered or wounded thousands of American service members in Iraq."

David Muir: (43:24)
Mayor Buttigieg, you're the only veteran standing on this stage and while there is still debate about whether or not there was an imminent threat, there is no debate about whether or not Soleimani was a bad actor who was responsible for the deaths of many Americans. Given what you know about Soleimani, if your national security team came to you with an opportunity to strike, would Soleimani have been dead or would he still be alive under your presidency?

Pete Buttigieg: (43:45)
In the situation that we saw with President Trump's decision, there is no evidence that that made our country safer. Look, I feel very strongly about the campaign of murder and mayhem that General Soleimani and his units have perpetrated. It's also the case that if we learned nothing else from the war in Iraq, it's that taking out a bad guy is not a good idea if you do not know what you were doing. This president has moved us this much closer to the brink of war, but it didn't start with the Soleimani strike. It started with withdrawing us from the Iran nuclear deal that his own administration certified was working. And it's time for us to recognize that every time a step is taken that moves us to the brink of war, that has incredibly serious consequences for those who serve.

Pete Buttigieg: (44:38)
By chance, just because I was traveling for the campaign, not long ago, I ran into somebody that I hadn't seen since we were both serving, hadn't seen since she was injured in an insider attack. And I saw her coming down the concourse in the airport wearing a Wounded Warrior Project tee shirt that said, "Some assembly required." And when I asked her how she was doing, she up her knee and tapped on the part of her leg that they couldn't save, tapped on the prosthetic and said the Navy had fixed her up just fine and then let me know that she was looking forward to an upcoming deployment.

Pete Buttigieg: (45:11)
The people in our uniform will do whatever the United States requires of them. What they deserve in return is a president who will actually read the intelligence, pay attention to the international security situation, consult with our allies, keep US politics out of it, and never commit our troops to a situation where they would have to go into harm's way if there is an alternative.

David Muir: (45:35)
Mayor Buttigieg, let me just press further on this though, because president Trump has signal in a general election campaign, he will celebrate his willingness to order that strike. I'm asking if your national security team came to you and presented you with the opportunity, would you take the strike?

Pete Buttigieg: (45:52)
It depends on the circumstances. It depends if there was an alternative and it depends what the different effects would be. That's my point. This is not an episode of 24. This is a situation that requires that you actually evaluate the entire intelligence picture. This president has insulted the intelligence community, but they put their lives on the line to gather the information that will help a decision maker evaluate whether or not something like that is justified. And I don't think he even reads it.

Pete Buttigieg: (46:20)
And here we have a situation where the world, that one of the most volatile places in the world has just become more dangerous at the hands of a president who has no regard for the military, not only punishing a war hero today with what he did to Colonel Vindman, but pardoning war criminals in a way that undermines the entire sense of good order and discipline and military honor. We deserve a better commander-in-chief.

David Muir: (46:44)
Mayor Buttigieg, thank you. I do want to take this to Vice President Biden next because we know that the Obama Administration was aware of the threat that Soleimani posed, so was the Bush Administration before it. I'm asking tonight as commander-in-chief though, would you have ordered the strike?

Joe Biden: (46:59)
No. And the reason I wouldn't have ordered the strike, there is no evidence yet of imminent threat that was going to come from him. Look what happened, his America First policies made America alone. You cannot think of a time, David, and as long as you've been alive when NATO has said to the United States of America and to Iran, made a moral equivalence and said, both of you stand down. We are alone now, alone in that region of the world, without friends, without support, without allies.

Joe Biden: (47:31)
And secondly, you saw what happened when that air raid, when those missiles were fired from Iran into Iraq at Al-Assad Airbase, 64 of our heroes were wounded. I don't know what I would've done if my son were still there. I would have been so damn angry. I don't know what I would've done. But here's what happened, they had received traumatic brain injury. What did the president say? He said, "headaches," "not bad," "Headaches, that's all they are." This guy doesn't deserve to be commander- in-chief for one more day.

David Muir: (48:02)
Mr. Vice President, thank you, Senator Sanders, you have called this, "assassinating a government official." You would not have ordered the strike.

Bernie Sanders: (48:10)
Right. Look, here is the danger, David, there are very bad leaders all over the world. Kim Jong-un in North Korea is probably responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of his people threatening all of Asia with nuclear weapons. You got Mohammad Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia who is a terrible murderer, who murdered Khashoggi in cold blood and dismembered his body. You have Putin in Russia who has been involved in political assassinations of his enemies. You got Xi in China who has put a million Muslims into concentration camps.

Bernie Sanders: (48:49)
You cannot go around saying you're a bad guy, we're going to assassinate you, and then you're going to have, if that happens, you're opening the door to international anarchy that every government in the world will then be subjected to attacks and assassination. What we have got to do, which Trump does not understand, is strengthen the State Department and our diplomatic capabilities, not just the military. What we have got to do is bring countries around the world together with our power and our wealth and say, you know what, let us sit down and work out our differences through debate and discussion at the UN, not through more and more war and the expenditures of trillions of dollars and the loss of God knows how many lives.

David Muir: (49:41)
Senator Sanders, thank you. This does take me to Afghanistan and to America's longest war. Senator Warren, you recently said quote, "We have one general after another in Afghanistan who comes in and says, "We've just turned the corner,' and then what happens? It's all the same. Someone new comes in and says, "We've just turned the corner.' You said, "So many say it. We're going in circles."

David Muir: (50:02)
We were on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq in recent months and the generals told us that the US needs some US presence on the ground, US special forces some presence to go after ISIS and the terrorists. If your commander-in-chief, would you listen to the generals or do they fall into the category of the generals you've mentioned before?

Elizabeth Warren: (50:19)
No. Look, I sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, so I get the briefings from the generals on a regular basis. I've been to Afghanistan, to Iraq. I've been to Jordan. I've been throughout the region. I've been there with John McCain. I've been there with Lindsey Graham to ask the hard questions about what's happening, to ask our generals, to ask their generals to ask people who are on the ground. And the bottom line is, nobody sees a solution to this war. Nobody can describe what winning looks like. All they can describe is endless war.

Elizabeth Warren: (50:52)
And I realized there are people on this debate stage who are willing to say, yeah, we'll leave our troops there for five more years, for 10 more years. Lindsey Graham has said he's willing to leave troops for 100 more years. And yet, what has all these years of war brought us? Right now, the Afghan Government controls less than 60% of the land. People don't have faith in it. It's a corrupt government. The opium trade is higher than ever.

Elizabeth Warren: (51:20)
Look, we sent our troops in and they did their best. They were there for us, but we need to be there for them. And that means, not send our troops to do work that cannot be solved militarily. It is time to bring our combat troops home. It is time to stop this endless war in Afghanistan.

David Muir: (51:41)
Senator Warren, I want to press you on this. You just said, "combat troops."

Elizabeth Warren: (51:45)
Yes.

David Muir: (51:45)
So if the generals came to you and said, we need US Special Forces, some footprint in Iraq and Afghanistan, would you listen? Would you leave them?

Elizabeth Warren: (51:53)
So I want to hear the plan, not just a, we need it now, we need it for the next day, we need it for the six months. And I want to know where our allies are. We all have an interest in dealing with terrorism and controlling terrorism, but that means it can't just be the United States waging endless war. That does not make us safer. It does not make the region safer. It does not make the world safer. We should work with our allies in managing terrorism, but we need to end this war in Afghanistan. We cannot wait five more years, or 10 more years, or until we turn the corner 10 more times. We need to bring our combat troops home.

David Muir: (52:34)
Senator Warren, thank you. I want to take this to the Vice President because you have said of Senator Warren's comments before that the United States should get out of the Middle East. You have said, "I quite frankly was surprised that I have never heard anyone say with any serious background in foreign policy that we should pull all troops out of the Middle East." Is Senator Warren wrong on this?

Joe Biden: (52:54)
I'm not sure what she, if she wants to pull all troops out of the Middle East, but if she does want to put all troops out of the Middle East, we saw what happens when that happened.

Joe Biden: (53:02)
I helped put together a 61 nation group to take out ISIS by putting fewer than 5,000 forces along the Turkish border to see to it that they, and they lost 10,000, the Kurds, lost 10,000 lives. They defeated ISIS. They ended the caliphate and then the president on a whim dealing with a man I know very well, they've now, the guy running Turkey who is more of an autocrat now than a Democrat, and what happened? We pulled out and you saw what happened. You saw the end of the effort to be able to continue to contain, contain ISIS, number one.

Joe Biden: (53:37)
Number two, close your eye, everybody. Remember what you saw on television. You saw a woman standing up there holding up her baby, Kurd, saying, "Please don't leave us." And our military women and men standing at, going out in their [inaudible 00:53:49] Humvees with their heads down ashamed of what they did. It didn't take a lot of men or men and women to do what needed to be done.

Joe Biden: (53:57)
And with regard Afghanistan, now I can say it because it was made public, I was totally against the whole notion of no nation building in Afghanistan. The only thing we should be doing is dealing with terrorism in that region. I've been in every part of Afghanistan, not in combat like my friend has, but in helicopter and/or on a vehicle in every part of it as senator and vice president. Here's what I saw, there is no possibility of uniting that country, no possibility at all of making it a whole country. But it is possible to see to it that they're not able to launch more attacks from the region on the United States of America. That's a small footprint that we needed and I argued for that in the beginning.

David Muir: (54:38)
You mentioned Mayor Buttigieg. And I do want to take this to you next, mayor. Given your finish in Iowa, you've come under increasing scrutiny, attacks from opponents on experience. We've heard that theme even right here tonight. You have said on the Iraq War, for example. "I just don't believe there is any justification for that vote." You said, "It's the difference between tenure and judgment." That it's the judgment that matters, not the time in Washington. Vice President Biden, as you know, voted yes. As commander-in-chief, do you believe your judgment would be better than the vice president's?

Pete Buttigieg: (55:07)
I believe that I have the judgment to help us get through these situations where obviously the vice president made the wrong decision when it came to such an important moment in our foreign policy. And looking forward, we got to recognize just how much is going to be on the plate of the next president that is different in kind from what we have faced before. It's not just about dealing with the aftermath of the war in Iraq, it's about preventing a war with Iran. And not only do we have to undertake the military and counter terrorism activities that we've been doing throughout, the next president is going to have to restore the credibility of this country among our allies and among the international community.

Pete Buttigieg: (55:48)
At a moment when we are facing fundamentally different challenges from asymmetric warfare to cybersecurity threats, in President Trump's imagination of a national security strategy is a big wall and a moat full of alligators. It's a 17th century approach to keeping a place safe. What we have to do is be ready for the future and that means insisting not only on shoring up our relationships, but defining a strategy to keep the American people safe from fundamentally new challenges.

David Muir: (56:16)
Mr. Vice President, I'll let you respond to his argument on judgment.

Joe Biden: (56:21)
I made a mistake and I said it 14 years ago. I trusted George Bush to keep his word. He said he was not going to go into Iraq. He said he was only using this to unite the United Nations to insist we get inspectors in to see what Saddam was doing. When we got elected, the president turned to me with the entire security apparatus and said, "Joe, I want you to organize getting 156,000 troops out of Iraq." I did that. I did that.

Joe Biden: (56:46)
The other thing I want to point out too is that NATO is in fact going to crumble if we don't beat Trump. NATO is in real trouble. We need NATO for more reasons than just physical security. We need NATO to make sure that we do not allow Russia to continue to have its influence in Eastern Europe in ways that it had before. It wasn't just to stop the Soviet Union from coming into the United States, coming into Europe. It was to make sure that we did not have a kleptocracy taking over that part of the world, to unite Europe in our behalf. I know how to deal with them. I know every one of these world leaders by their first names. They call me. I talked to them and I believe I can get it done.

David Muir: (57:22)
Mr. Vice President, thank you. Mr. Steyer, I do want to bring you in on this because I noticed in the last 24 hours you have an attack ad running here in New Hampshire with images of Mayor Buttigieg and you say over those images "an untested newcomer." But I wanted to ask you tonight on this readiness to be commander-in-chief, you share the stage with a veteran from Afghanistan, a vice president who was in the Situation Room. What makes you most qualified of all candidates on this stage to be commander-in-chief?

Tom Steyer: (57:47)
Well, let me say this, I agree with Pete Buttigieg that it's about judgment not tenure. What we're hearing here is a very long dissertation about exactly how America should be the world's policemen. And what we've actually seen in the Middle East is that Barack Obama used diplomacy to get Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for our releasing economic sanctions along with our partners around the world. So when we're talking about our role in the world and commander-in-chief, we have abandoned a diplomacy. We don't have a strategy and we don't have allies.

Tom Steyer: (58:26)
And actually this view of the world, that our response should be military is driven by our gigantic military complex and ignores the biggest problem that we face internationally in the world, which is climate change. And it cannot be solved with guns and tanks and planes. It can only be solved with diplomacy and allies and interaction with other countries. So in fact, what we are listening to right here is a discussion of 20 years of failed military action and how we should continue it and how we should continue spending $700 billion dollars a year on defense when we spend $70 billion dollars a year at the federal level on education.

David Muir: (59:12)
Mr. Steyer [crosstalk 00:17:13].

Tom Steyer: (59:17)
Let's talk about judgment here. [crosstalk 00:59:16].

David Muir: (59:20)
Mr. Vice President, I'll give you 30 seconds to respond.

Joe Biden: (59:22)
That's not what I said, I was part of the reason putting that deal together with Iran. I was there. I was involved in that. I was also part of the deal putting together the Paris Climate Accord. I brought in the Chinese. I was part of that. I've been part of every major initiative we've had relative to diplomacy. I have not argued for the placement of major numbers of US combat troops. I have said, along with the President of the United States, Barack Obama as his partner, I have said, we have to strengthen NATO to make it clear that we keep our commitments when we make them. Like we don't keep our commitments to the Kurds. We must keep our commitments when we make them. Otherwise, we have no power whatsoever.

Joe Biden: (01:00:04)
And it's not about making sure we're policeman of the world. The only way not to become the policeman of the world is to have allies who will join us in dealing with failed States and terrorism. And it has to be done jointly by a whole lot of people and it doesn't require large number of US troops, and I've never said that.

Tom Steyer: (01:00:21)
Okay, can I respond to that, David?

David Muir: (01:00:21)
Senator Sanders, Senator Sanders, please.

Tom Steyer: (01:00:23)
Can I respond to [crosstalk 01:00:22].

Bernie Sanders: (01:00:24)
Let me say this if I might, like Joe and others, I also heard the arguments in terms of the war in Iraq from Bush, from Cheney, from John Bolton, from the whole administration. I listened very carefully and I concluded that they were lying through their teeth. And I not only voted against that war, but I help lead the opposition. And it saddens me so much. If you hear what I said, it's on YouTube, my fears about all the destabilization that would take place by the US invading Iraq. It's sad to me that, that is what happened.

Bernie Sanders: (01:01:04)
But let me just pick up on a point that Tom made, which is absolutely right. Trump wants to build a wall around America. The problem is if we are going to deal with issues like climate change, not only do we in America have to take on the greed of the fossil fuel industry, we have to lead the entire world. This is not an American issue. It's a global issue. We got to bring China and Russia and Brazil and Pakistan and India and every major country on earth into the fight against climate change.

Bernie Sanders: (01:01:38)
And here is my dream, maybe it's a radical dream, but maybe just may be given the crisis of climate change, the world can understand that instead of spending $1.8 trillion dollars a year collectively on weapons of destruction designed to kill each other, maybe we pool our resources and fight our common enemy, which is climate change.

David Muir: (01:02:02)
[crosstalk 00:20:02]. Senator Sanders, thank you. George, back to you.

George S.: (01:02:06)
We have much more today coming up, but we have got to take a break. We'll be right back.

George S.: (04:24)
Welcome back of Saint Anselm College here in New Hampshire and we are here every four years, thanks to our amazing Manchester partner WMUR. And now anchor Monica Hernandez and political director Adam Section are joining us with questions on the minds of New Hampshire voters.

Monica Hernandez: (04:39)
Thank you George. It's an honor to be here in our community. We know Granite Staters are engaged and we know there are issues that strike especially close to home here. New Hampshire has one of the highest rates of deadly overdoses in the country. In some cases, police and paramedics tell us that they are saving the same lives again and again, sometimes more than once in a single day. It's a healthcare issue, but it's also so much more. Mayor Buttigieg, you have described yourself as a moderate, but one of your policies at least goes further than some on the stage with you are willing to go. You have called for the decriminalization of all drugs. Does that include heroin, meth, and cocaine, some of the drugs that have contributed to this crisis?

Pete Buttigieg: (05:19)
No. What I've called for is that incarceration should no longer be the response to drug possession.

Monica Hernandez: (05:34)
With all due respect Mayor Buttigieg, on your website it says that you called for decriminalization of all drugs.

Pete Buttigieg: (05:35)
Again, what I'm calling for is that we end the use of incarceration as a response. This does not mean that it will be lawful to produce or distribute those kinds of harmful drugs, but also as we know from the opioid crisis, some of this has been driven by companies that were acting irresponsibly with substances that were lawful. It's why in South Bend we sued those companies to hold them accountable. We've got to make sure that there is accountability for those who suppressed evidence about the addictiveness of those substances. Even while we're also coming to recognize that these kinds of addiction are a medical issue, not a moral failure on the part of somebody battling that addiction.

Pete Buttigieg: (06:17)
That's why medication assisted treatment is so important. And those people who are being revived, and our own EMTs in my city had been so frustrated by the experience of reviving somebody, but then they have nowhere to go. Sometimes you get brought back with a dose of Narcan, but then your life depends on whether in the days that follow you make it until somebody can actually see you, because we have such a shortage of mental health and addiction providers in this country. We must act to change that and save lives when we do.

Monica Hernandez: (06:47)
I want to bring this question now to Mr. Yang. You've said you would decriminalize opioids, but you've also said that you would require all overdose patients to go to mandatory treatment centers for three days. Right now in New Hampshire there aren't enough beds in treatment centers and across the country. How would you make sure treatment is available for all overdose patients and what would you do to fill the gap in the meantime?

Andrew Yang: (07:13)
That's what we have to change, Monica. I've heard heartbreaking stories from families here in New Hampshire that have been destroyed, torn apart by the opiod epidemic and you have to look at the companies that profited to the tune of tens of billions of dollars in profits of essentially blood money. As President, we will take back those profits and put them to work right here in New Hampshire so that if you are seeking treatment, you have resources to be able to pursue it.

Andrew Yang: (07:37)
This is not a money problem fundamentally this is a human problem, but money cannot be the obstacle. This is something that happened on the government's watch. The government allowed this opiod epidemic to spread throughout our communities and we have to do everything in our power to actually make sure that if you are seeking treatment, you know you're not going to be sent to jail. We have safe injection and safe consumption sites for you.

Andrew Yang: (08:00)
If you have a family member who's struggling, you can refer them and know that they're not going to have criminal penalties as a result. There are so much about this that's endemic to what's happened throughout the country in terms of companies running amok, this hyper corporate capitalism where if money's on one side in this country and people are on the other side, the money is winning. You can see it with the opiate epidemic. You can see it with the military industrial complex, the fossil fuel companies. This is what must change and that's where I'll lead as president.

Monica Hernandez: (08:33)
Senator Klobuchar, I want to take the question to you now. As a prosecutor, you embrace tough on crime policies, even with drug offenders. You've also spoken many times about your father's own addiction issues, his own alcoholism and his DUI arrests. If addiction is a disease, should people be arrested for it and as a prosecutor, do you regret sending people with substance abuse issues to jail?

Amy Klobuchar: (08:56)
I led one of the most successful drug courts in the country in Hennepin County, and I always would say and believed, and I think my record shows this, that we weren't a business. We didn't want to see repeat customers. And if you don't want to see repeat customers, the only answer is treatment. And maybe you're referring to some of the people who were dealing big time in drugs. Yes, I felt that we should prosecute those people, but when it comes to, when you asked Mr. Yang a question, and I think it, we owe it to the people of New Hampshire, had one of the biggest addiction rates in the countries and death rates when it comes to opioids, to explain how we will pay for the treatment and the bed. I've been very clear about this.

Amy Klobuchar: (09:40)
There's going to be a major settlement coming through, a federal settlement against all these opioid manufacturers. The evidence is overwhelming, including an email where one guy, a business guy, says to the other, "They're eating them like Doritos. Just keep pumping them out." We will get a conservative estimate, $40 billion in from that settlement, we can put a 2 cents per milligram tax on opiods that brings in another 40 billion. Then you can close a hedge fund loophole that brings in $18 billion. And just like every other policy I've proposed, and I think New Hampshire voters should care about this, I have showed how I'm going to pay for it. Because I think we have someone in the White House that has told over 15,000 lies. He makes all kinds of promises. The people of New Hampshire and the people of our country deserve better. I will get this done and it is personal for me.

Adam Sexton: (10:32)
Good evening candidates. New Hampshire is a battleground, not just for presidential contenders but also for top issues and that includes gun policy. Senator Sanders, for many voters in this Democratic primary, your allure is about consistency when it comes to progressive issues you've been on the right side of them for a long time. One exception is gun rights. In the '90s when you were in Congress, you voted against background checks. You also voted against a waiting period for purchase of a firearm. Can you explain why you opposed these things that you now support?

Bernie Sanders: (11:01)
I can Adam, and let me also say that in 1988 I probably lost a race for Congress, and we only have one Congress person in the whole state, because in 1988 I said that we should ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons in this country. That was 30 years ago. Furthermore, I am very proud that today I have a D- voting record from the NRA. And under my administration it will be the American people doing gun policy, not dictated by the NRA.

Bernie Sanders: (11:38)
But to answer your question, I come, like New Hampshire, from a very, very rural state. In Vermont until the last two years ago, we had virtually no gun control legislation at all and I represented that perspective. The world has changed. In Vermont and in New Hampshire and all over this country, people are sickened by the mass shootings that we have seen and the gun violence that we have seen. The world has changed and my views have changed, and my view is right now we need universal background checks, we end the gun show loophole, we end the so called straw man provision. We make certain that we end the sale and distribution of assault weapons in this country, and we go further. We go further, but at the bottom line is I will not be intimidated by the NRA. We're going to run the gun policy that the American people want.

Adam Sexton: (12:34)
Vice President Biden, you've taken a lot of heat in this primary, on these debate stages and from voters here in New Hampshire for your past positions. You've essentially asked them to look at the totality of your record and give you the benefit of the doubt. Does Senator Sanders deserve that same benefit of the doubt on guns?

Joe Biden : (12:49)
Here's the deal. The biggest mistake that Bernie made, that Senator Sanders made, he voted to give the gun manufacturers, the only major industry in America, a loophole that does not allow them to be sued for the carnage they are creating. First thing I'll do as President is work to get rid of that. It's going to be hard. Think of all the thousands and thousands of people who died. And I might add Bernie, while you were representing your constituency, an awful lot of people [inaudible 00:13:18] your gun state and they've come around. In fact, all those folks in California, New York, Pennsylvania, they're getting killed by the thousands during the same period.

Joe Biden : (13:27)
I come from a state that's a major gun owning stare. I introduced the first assault weapons ban. I in fact got it passed. I'm the only guy that beat the NRA twice. While I was pushing the Brady Background Bill to check background checks, Bernie voted five times against that when he was in the House. So look, the other thing is that we have to be held accountable for the things we did, I'm the guy that set up drug courts. I set them up. I wrote it into law and it never got funded. And also on opioids, I'm the guy who's already begun to make a down payment. In the Cures Act I put in $1 billion to fight opioid addiction. And lastly, my time is going to be up, surely. Here's the deal. Those Chief Executive Officer of drug companies, they should not only be fined, they should go to jail.

Adam Sexton: (14:15)
Senator Warren, we'd like to go over to you now. [inaudible 00:14:18] I want to ask you this question here though. Laws can do so much, if you could change one thing about America's gun culture, what would it be?

Elizabeth Warren: (14:25)
Look, we have a gun violence problem in America. It is about the mass shootings that we hear about in our schools and that frighten us, about it in theaters and in churches. It's also though about shootings that occur on sidewalks and in playgrounds, often in communities of color that are hit hardest, but there are no headlines over those. It's also about suicide and the increasing lethality of suicide because of the availability of guns. It is also about the increased chances that it's usually a woman will die of domestic violence if she is with a violent man and a gun is in the home.

Elizabeth Warren: (15:07)
We need to think of this problem not as one and done or three things and done. We need to think of it just like we did on auto safety. We just keep coming back. We treat it like the public health emergency that it is. But the question we should be asking ourselves is when America, across this country, including gun owners, agree in certain basic things, universal background checks, get assault weapons off the streets. Why can we not even get a vote in the United States Senate?

Elizabeth Warren: (15:40)
And the answer is 90%, think about this, more than 90% of Americans agree on this. We can't get a vote in the United States Senate because it is the gun industry that continues to call the shots. Until we attack the corruption in Washington, the influence of money on campaigns and lobbying, we're not going to be able to meet our promises. And one more, until we agree that we are willing to roll back to filibuster, the gun industry is going to continue to have a veto and we will never make the changes we make. We have to be willing to build a future that works, not for a gun industry, but that works for the rest of America and protects our children.

Joe Biden : (16:24)
We ought to be able to sue the gun industry.

David Muir: (16:25)
Thank you, candidates. We're going to go back to David up there [inaudible 00:16:26]. Adam and Monica, thank you and thanks to WMUR tonight. I want to turn to the Supreme Court, the balance on the court and the issues before the court right now. President Trump in just the last 24 hours saying we've appointed 191 federal judges, two Supreme Court Justices, keeping his campaign promise to shift the Court to the right with Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

David Muir: (16:46)
The Affordable Care Act is at the court. Climate change is working its way to the court, and a major abortion case is on the docket this year. Vice President Biden, on the issue of abortion, in 2012 you said, "President Obama's two Supreme Court picks of them, there was no litmus test. We picked people who had an open mind, did not come with an agenda." And you've said before, "We both believed that we should not apply narrow litmus tests to appointees to the Supreme Court." Let me just ask, would you do it differently as President, Mr. Vice President? Would there be a litmus test on abortion?

Joe Biden : (17:16)
If you say the rest of what I said. I said that we're going to not appoint anyone who did not have a view that unenumerated rights existed in the Constitution. That's not a specific test. It's a generic test. And only way, the only reason women have the right to choose is because it's determined that there's unenumerated rights coming from the Ninth Amendment in the Constitution. That's what I said. And I was part of the reason why Elena Kagan, who worked for me, we got onto the Supreme Court. I was part of the reason why Ruth Bader Ginsburg is on the Court. I was part of the reason why Sotomayer is on the Court and she will swear me in. I presided, and I'm the reason why this right wasn't taken away a long time ago because I almost single handedly made sure that Robert Bork did not get on the Court because he did not think there should be enumerated rights [inaudible 00:18:04].

David Muir: (18:04)
So let me just-

Joe Biden : (18:05)
Let's get that straight.

David Muir: (18:05)
Mr. Vice President, I am aware of what you said, which is why I'm asking would you do it differently now? Would there be a litmus test on abortion?

Joe Biden : (18:12)
Yes. Look, here's the deal. Litmus test on abortion relates to the fundamental value of the Constitution. A woman does have a right to choose. I would in fact, if they rule it to be unconstitutional, I will send to the United States Congress and it will pass, I believe, a bill that… Excuse me, legislates Roe V. Wade adjusted by Casey. It's a woman's right to do that. Period. And if you call that a litmus test it's a litmus test, but what I was talking about in the past, so no one gets confused here, is if there is no… If you read the Constitution very, very narrowly and say there are no unenumerated rights. If the doesn't say it in the Constitution that doesn't exist, you cannot have any of the things I care about, any of the things I care about as a progressive member of the United States Congress at the time, and as Vice President and as a member of society.

David Muir: (19:04)
Mr. Vice president, thank you. Senator Warren.

Elizabeth Warren: (19:06)
Look, I've lived in an America in which abortion was illegal and rich women still got abortions and that's what we have to remember about this. States are heading toward trying to ban abortion outright and the Supreme Court seems headed in exactly that direction as well. If we are going to protect the people of the United States of America and we are going to protect our rights to have dominion over our own bodies, then it's going to mean we can't simply rely on the courts. Three out of every four people in America believe right now that the rule of Roe versus Wade should be the law. That means we should be pushing for a Congressional solution as well. It is time to have a national law to protect the right of a woman's choice.

David Muir: (19:57)
Senator Warren, thank you. Senator Klobuchar, I do want to come to you. Should there be a litmus test? It's an active hall here tonight. I did want to come to you on this question.

Amy Klobuchar: (20:10)
Thank you.

David Muir: (20:10)
Should there be a litmus test on abortion?

Amy Klobuchar: (20:12)
I would only appoint judges that would respect precedent and one of those key precedents is Roe v. Wade. In addition, you have got to put it into law. Donald Trump, and I think it's really important to take it to him here, when he was running for election, and this is a case I will make on the debate stage against him, he actually said that he wanted to put women in jail. He then dialed it back and said, "No, I want to put doctors in jail." Is it a big surprise then we're seeing states like Alabama start enacting laws that would criminalize doctors who perform abortions. It's not. And that is why it's going to be really important when you look at the overwhelming public support for funding Planned Parenthood, for making sure women have access to contraception, to making sure that they have a right to choose, that we make this case strongly and loudly.

David Muir: (21:06)
Senator Klobuchar, thank you. Mayor Buttigieg, you have signaled that you'd be open to the idea of expanding the Court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested leaving the Court as it is, saying quote, "Nine seems to be a good number." And in fact she said if the number of justices is increased quote, "It would make the Court appear partisan. It would be one side saying, "When we're in power, we're going to enlarge the number of judges to have more people who will vote the way we want them to.'" Is Justice Ginsburg wrong?

Pete Buttigieg: (21:32)
Well, if all we did was change the number of justices than I agree with her that that could be the consequence. What I've called for is not only reforming the number of justices on the bench, but structural reform so that some of the justices are not appointed through a partisan process. We cannot allow the Supreme Court to continue to become one more political battlefield as we are seeing today. And the time has come for us to think bigger, not just reforming the makeup of the court as America, by the way, has done several times in our history. But also remember that the founders gave us the power to amend the Constitution for a reason and we shouldn't be afraid to use it.

Pete Buttigieg: (22:13)
It's not something you do lightly or quickly, but when it comes to something like Citizens United, which holds that corporations have the same political soul as people and that spending money to influence an election is the same thing as writing an op-ed to your local paper, we need a Constitutional amendment to clear that up and protect our democracy.

David Muir: (22:33)
Mayor Buttigieg, thank you. Vice President Biden, I do want to come to you on this. President Trump has said that the only reason Democrats want to expand the Court is they want to try and catch up. You have called any expansion of the court a bad idea, adding, "We will live to rue that day." Do you agree with President Trump on-

Joe Biden : (22:50)
I agree with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That's who I agree with. And I agree the way you deal with Citizens United is pass a constitutional amendment I introduced 25 years ago saying that only public money can be spent in elections. Period. Not private money, not billionaires, not money from special interests. Period. That's the way to amend the Constitution to deal with that. In addition to that, if in fact… Look, the Democrats stood up against the man I've revered, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he wanted to expand the Court. But they were wise enough to understand that whoever then has the majority will have the ability to abuse it and it will lose its legitimacy and there are three equal branches of government. It says the President shell nominate, the Senate shall dispose, the Senate shall make that decision, not the president. He can nominate.

Joe Biden : (23:37)
That's why it's so important we must win back the United States Senate this time out. And that's why as you all look at it up here in New Hampshire and around the world, excuse me, around the country, you have to ask yourself, who is most likely to help get a Senator elected in North Carolina, Georgia? Who can win Florida, Pennsylvania, Minnesota? Who can do that? Because you got to be able to win those… Well, you can. I agree. But here's the point. You've got to be able to, you've got to be able to not just win, you've got to bring along a United States Senate or this becomes moot.

David Muir: (24:16)
Senator Sanders [crosstalk 00:24:17].

Bernie Sanders: (24:18)
Look, you asked the simple question, is there a litmus test for those of us up here? For me there is. I will never nominate any person to the Supreme Court or the federal courts in general who was not 100% pro Roe v. Wade. Number two, we have got a codify Roe v. Wade into legislation. Number three, we have to significantly expand funding for Planned Parenthood.

David Muir: (24:52)
Mr. Steyer, I want to bring you in on this because you have claimed that when it comes to the Supreme Court, you have said Republicans have been cheating.

Tom Steyer: (24:59)
Sure they've been cheating. Look, what we saw Mitch McConnell do, not just in the Supreme Court with Merrick Garland, but across the board with federal judges, was refuse to allow President Obama's picks to be considered. That's why Mr. Trump has appointed so many federal judges, because in fact the Republicans refused to allow President Obama to get his due, and honestly, we're sitting here talking about do you have a litmus test? We all have the litmus test. Everybody on this row feels exactly the same way about a woman's right to choose. Everybody on this row feels exactly the same way on gun control. Every single one in this row feels the same way.

Tom Steyer: (25:38)
There's something else going on. These Republicans are in control. They're stacking the Court for a generation with young right-wing radicals, and we've watched it happen and the question is what are we going to do about it? That's where we are in the United States, and the question is… Actually Joe Biden's right. We have to go win a huge victory this year, and we're in trouble. And so the question is going to be, look at these people, who can pull together the Democratic Party?

Tom Steyer: (26:05)
And let me say this, we have not said one word tonight about race. Not one word. Are you kidding me? We have the most diverse party. We have a very diverse country. We have a very diverse party. The heart and soul of this party is diversity, black people, Latinos, AAPI people, Native Americans and white people. But for goodness sakes, pull it together. We're talking about something different. The question we have is how are we getting that diverse group of people to the polls? What are we saying? Everybody on this stage feels the same way about a woman's right to choose and economic justice. The question is how do we beat Trump? How do we take down these Republicans? And the answer is we've got to show we can take them down on growth, job creation, the economy. We send them packing and then we get all of this including beating the corporations.

David Muir: (26:56)
Mr Steyer, thank you. The night is still young. Many questions to come, and Linsey Davis is next.

Linsey Davis: (27:01)
I want to turn now to criminal justice. Mayor Buttigieg…

David Muir: (27:03)
Linsey Davis is next.

Linsey Davis: (27:03)
I want to turn now to criminal justice. Mayor Buttigieg, under your leadership as mayor, a black resident in South Bend, Indiana was four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white resident. Now, that racial disparity is higher than the rest of the state, in fact, it's higher than the rest of the nation, and that disparity increased in South Bend after you took office.

Linsey Davis: (27:23)
When talking about the problem on national terms, you've called it "evidence of systemic racism." You were mayor for eight years, so weren't you, in effect, the head of the system, and how do explain that increase in black arrests under your leadership?

Pete Buttigieg: (27:37)
Well, the reality is, on my watch, drug arrests in South Bend were lower than the national average, and specifically to marijuana, lower than in Indiana. But there is no question that systemic racism has penetrated to every level of our system, and my city was not immune. I took a lot of heat for discussing systemic racism with my own police department, but we've got to confront the fact that there is no escaping how this is part of all of our policies.

Pete Buttigieg: (28:05)
Earlier, we were talking about opioids, and thankfully, America has come to a better understanding about the fact that opioid addiction is best understood as a medical problem. But there were a lot of people, including a lot of African American activists in my community who have made the very good point, it's great that everybody's so enlightened about drug policy now when it comes to opioids, but where were you when it came to marijuana, where were you when it came to the crack epidemic in the 1990s? That is one of the reasons why I am calling for us as a country to take up those reforms that end incarceration as a response to possession and make sure that we legalize marijuana and when we do it, do it retroactively with expungements to correct the harm done in so many cases of incarceration, disproportionately of black and brown Americans where the incarceration did far more harm than the offense it was intended to deal with.

Linsey Davis: (29:00)
Right, let me go back to the original question though. How do you explain the increase in black arrests in South Bend under your leadership for marijuana possession?

Pete Buttigieg: (29:05)
And again, the overall rate was lower than the national rate.

Linsey Davis: (29:09)
No, there was an increase. The year before you were in office, it was lower. Once you became in office in 2012, that number went up. In 2018, the last number year that we have record for, that number was still up.

Pete Buttigieg: (29:22)
And one of the strategies that our community adopted was to target, when there were cases where there was gun violence and gang violence, which was slaughtering so many in our community, burying teenagers, disproportionately black teenagers, we adopted a strategy that said that drug enforcement would be targeted in cases where there was a connection to the most violent group or gang connected to a murder.

Pete Buttigieg: (29:49)
These things are all connected, but that's the point. So are all of the things that need to change in order for us to prevent violence and remove the effects of systemic racism, not just from criminal justice, but from our economy, from health, from housing, and from our democracy itself.

Linsey Davis: (30:05)
Senator Warren, is that a substantial answer from Mayor Buttigieg?

Elizabeth Warren: (30:08)
No. You have to own up to the fact, and it's important to own up to the facts about how race has totally permeated our criminal justice system. For the exact same crimes, study after study now shows that African Americans are more likely than whites to be detained, to be arrested, to be taken to trial, to be wrongfully convicted, and receive harsher sentences. We need to rework our criminal justice system, from the very front end on what we make illegal all the way through the system, and how we help people come back into the community.

Elizabeth Warren: (30:50)
But we cannot just say that criminal justice is the only time we want to talk about race specifically. We need to start having race-conscious laws. Housing, for example, I have a great housing plan to build more housing in America, but understand it was the policy of the United States of America to discriminate against African Americans and any other people of color for buying homes until 1965. You can't just repeal that and say "Okay, now everything is even." It's not. We need race-conscious laws in education and employment, in entrepreneurship, to make this country a country of opportunity for everyone, no matter the color of their skin.

Andrew Yang: (31:37)
Elizabeth, with respect, you can't regulate away racism with a whole patchwork of laws that are race-specific. What we have to do is heed the writings of Martin Luther King, whose birthday we just celebrated. He said that capitalism forgets that life is social, and what he was championing was a guaranteed minimum income for all Americans of $1000 a month or more that would end up reshaping our economy in communities of color, make it so that black net work is not 10% of white net worth in this country, which is the most important number of them all. We can't regulate that away through any other means except by putting money directly into the hands of African Americans and Latinos and people of color to allow businesses to actually flourish and grow in those communities. The only way that will happen is if black and Latino consumers have buying power, and that is where we have to move as a country.

Linsey Davis: (32:33)
Senator Sanders, then Mr. Steyer.

Tom Steyer: (32:36)
Let me say this, I disagree. Andrew, no, let me say this. I disagree with you Andrew. I am the person on this stage who will say openly, I'm for reparations. Something wrong happened. I am for reparations to African Americans in this country, and anyone who things that racism is a thing of the past and not an ongoing problem is not dealing with reality. In fact, three days ago, one of the leaders of Joe Biden's South Carolina campaign made racist remarks about someone associated with our campaign, and the Legislative Black Caucus went out en masse to stand up for that man and for our campaign. Joe, I'm asking you to come with me and the Legislative Black Caucus and disavow Dick Harpootlian and what he had to say. It was wrong, and I'm asking you to join us. Be on the right side.

Joe Biden : (33:25)
I'm asking you to join me and join in the support I have from the overwhelming number of the members of that Black Caucus. I have more support in South Carolina in the Black Caucus and the black community than anybody else. Double what you have, or anybody else here.

Bernie Sanders: (33:36)
I don't think that's quite right.

Tom Steyer: (33:37)
But wait a second, wait a second. Bernie.

Joe Biden : (33:39)
Well, that is quite right.

Tom Steyer: (33:40)
Let's not argue about polls. Bernie, this isn't about polls.

Linsey Davis: (33:43)
Senator Sanders …

Joe Biden : (33:43)
This is not about polls. I'm not talking about polls.

Bernie Sanders: (33:47)
Let me just say, first of all, we have nine members of the Black Caucus in South Carolina supporting us, but more importantly, much of what Elizabeth said is absolutely correct. We have a racist society from top to bottom impacting healthcare, housing, criminal justice, education, you name it. And clearly this is an issue that must be dealt with. But in terms of criminal justice, what we have got to do is understand the system is broken, is racist. We invested our young people in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. We end the war on drugs, which has disproportionately impacted African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. We end private prisons and detention centers in America.

Tom Steyer: (34:40)
Bernie, I appreciate what you're saying.

Bernie Sanders: (34:42)
And, excuse me, we also, most people don't know this. Tonight in America, 200,000 people are in jail without having been convicted of anything.

Tom Steyer: (34:52)
That's right.

Bernie Sanders: (34:52)
200,000 people, because they can't afford the $500 for bail they need to get out of jail. That is outrageous, we're going to end cash bail in America.

Tom Steyer: (35:03)
Okay, let me say this. I've worked, Bernie, I've worked to end cash bail in California and it's gone. I've worked to end private prisons in California and they're gone. I'm somebody who's, our family, my wife and I started a bank specifically to support businesses owned by women, black people, and Latinos, because they couldn't get financing anywhere else. But I, Joe, I want a answer. Really. I think you should come over and disavow the statements that this man made that were openly racist, that were wrong, and the Legislative Black Caucus is against. I'm asking you to join us and do the right thing.

Joe Biden : (35:41)
I've already spoken to Dick Harpootlian and he in fact is, I believe, sorry for what he said. But here's the deal, folks. We've got to stop taking the black community for granted. That's the starting place. Every one of the things we talked about here, for example, in South Carolina, Jim Clyburn, he has a program, 10-15-30. We should be investing our money in those communities that haven't gotten help for a long time and give most of that help to those communities. Make it a priority. We should make sure that we have no one going to jail for a drug offense, they go directly, mandatory prison. I mean, excuse me, mandatory treatment, not prison. And we fund it. And we fund it, and three days doesn't get it. It takes at least 60 to 90 days to make any progress. We have to pay for that.

Joe Biden : (36:34)
Just like instead of building new prisons, we build new rehabilitation centers. We have to make sure that we have a window at the Treasury Department that allows entrepreneurs who are black and brown and minorities to be able to get loans to be able to start businesses. You know, if you own a house, I know you do know, if you own a house in an all black neighborhood, same exact house in all white neighborhood, exact same shape, the house valued in the black neighborhood would be valued as worth less, making it difficult for you to accumulate wealth, as my friend at the end of the line here says. So here's the deal: we have to do much, much more. That's what got me involved in politics in the first place, redlining, to stop it.

Joe Biden : (37:13)
I got involved through the Civil Rights Movement, I became a public defender. That's why I got involved. There's so many things we have to do across the board, and in education, at-risk schools. We should triple the funding we have for at-risk schools to provide for three, four, and five years old to go to school, not daycare. Increase the salaries of teachers, encourage more blacks to get into teaching, especially black men, because studies show when there's a black man in a school, it increases prospects significantly, and so on. There's a lot we can do, I've laid it all out as how to do, go to joebiden.com, you'll see the whole deal, including criminal justice reform.

Linsey Davis: (37:49)
Thank you Mr. Vice President. As you mentioned South Carolina, three weeks from tomorrow they'll go to the polls to vote, black voters make up about 60% of the electorate there. Senator Sanders, several weeks ago, Nina Turner, one of your national co-chairs, published an op-ed piece that said Vice President Biden has "repeatedly betrayed black voters to side with Republican lawmakers and undermine our progress." Senator Sanders, do you agree with her, one of your most visible surrogates, that Vice President Biden has repeatedly betrayed black voters?

Bernie Sanders: (38:19)
Well, I think what Senator Turner was talking about are some of the early actions of Vice President Biden, but no. Joe Biden is a friend of mine, and I'm not here to attack him. But what I would say is that what we need in terms of the African American community is to understand that we have got to start investing big time in education, in healthcare. There is no excuse why white families in America have 10 times more wealth than black families. No excuse that disproportionately, African Americans are in jail compared to whites. No excuse for black women dying in childbirth three times the rate that white women are doing as well.

Linsey Davis: (39:06)
Senator Klobuchar?

Amy Klobuchar: (39:08)
Yes.

Linsey Davis: (39:09)
You had raised your hand before.

Amy Klobuchar: (39:10)
Yes I did, because I think in addition to the economic argument we're making here with the sad, sad stories of a woman walking into a maternity room in New Orleans and saying her hand are swollen and walking out without her baby, and 30% of African American kids being living in poverty, we know that there are economic solutions here, to invest in those communities, housing, childcare. But there's something else insidious going on that we haven't addressed, and that is the systematic racism when it comes to voting. That is, moves across the country to limit people's right to vote, and that is why I have been leading on these bills to automatically register every kid to vote in this country when they turn 18. There is no reason that we can't do that across this country. To stop the gerrymandering by setting up independent commissions in every single state, and yes, to stop the voting purges.

Amy Klobuchar: (40:08)
Because what is going on right now in the words of one North Carolina court is that they are discriminating with surgical precision against African American voters, and we are not going to be able to get any of these things done if we don't give people the right to vote.

Linsey Davis: (40:25)
Vice President Biden and then Senator Warren.

Joe Biden : (40:31)
I beg your pardon?

Linsey Davis: (40:31)
I just wanted to give you a chance to respond.

Joe Biden : (40:33)
Yes, I agree completely. There should be registration, automatic registration, turning 18, you get a driver's license, whatever you do, you automatically are registered, number one. Number two, with regard to what we're going to see in South Carolina, we're all going to be there pretty soon. We'll see whether or not it works. In response to the letter that the person, I'm not saying Bernie wrote the letter, but the senator who wrote the letter was very brisk and significant with other African Americans in South Carolina taking issue with her.

Joe Biden : (41:02)
But look, Amy is right, the senator's correct. That is that we, in fact, there is systematic racism, and that's why our Justice Department works so hard to go after those. You know, realize there are 35 states in the United States of America that have come up with a total of 78 laws to restrict voting just in the last five years to try to keep African Americans from voting, and brown as well, black and brown people from voting. And that will be an enormous priority in my administration as it was in ours. It's just wrong, simply wrong.

Elizabeth Warren: (41:41)
I'm glad to stand on this stage with my fellow Democrats who talk about how important the black community is, at least at election time. Year after year after year, election after election after election, Democrats go to people in the black community and say "Boy, we really care about these issues. Racism is terrible, we all want to do something," and then somehow the problem just seems to keep getting worse. Well I think it's time we have real, concrete plans that are going to make a difference in people's lives. I proposed a two cent wealth tax. And let me tell you just one of the things we can do with a two cent wealth tax. We can cancel student loan debt for 43 million Americans, and because African Americans have to borrow more money to go to college, borrow more money while they're in college and have a harder time paying it back when they get out, that one law is going to help close the black-white wealth gap for people with student loans by about 20 points.

Elizabeth Warren: (42:40)
We aren't making a difference in America. We're saying to the rich folks "You keep your money, and the rest of us will talk about racism but not really do anything." I think the time for that is over, I'm ready to get in this fight and really make a change.

Joe Biden : (42:54)
Okay, thank you.

George S.: (42:57)
Actually, let's keep this debate going. Go ahead, Mr. Steyer.

Tom Steyer: (43:02)
Out of narrative comes policy. And we're talking about a lot of policies that affect Americans, broadly and disproportionately affect black Americans or brown Americans. But what I believe is we should set up a commission on race and deal with race explicitly. Because everyone's saying we can't have rules that are different for different people, but in fact we're here because we had rules that are different for different people. I would set up a formal commission on race on day one to retell the story of the last 400 years in America of systematic racism against African Americans, not just legal discrimination, injustice, and cruelty, but also the contribution that the African American community has made to America in building it and in leading the entire country from a moral standpoint for generations and centuries. Because I believe out of narrative comes policy. We need to repair damage that's been done officially, and pretending we're all the same is not accurate. We got here a certain way. Let's talk about Jim Crow, let's talk about Martin Luther King, let's talk about Barbara Lee, the congresswoman from Oakland who's one of our great leaders, and then let's figure out how to repair the damage so we can move forward together.

George S.: (44:24)
Mr. Yang, take on that argument, also what he said about reparations.

Andrew Yang: (44:31)
The median African American household net work is projected to be zero by 2053. Things are not getting better for people of color. If anything, they're getting wore, because we're in the process of eliminating the most common jobs in our economy. It's something of an economic unnatural disaster, and who suffers most in a natural disaster? People of color, people with lower levels of capital and access to opportunity and education.

Andrew Yang: (44:58)
And while I know we love to champion education here as Democrats, only 33% of Americans are going attend college, lower percentage of African Americans. There is no way we can prevent this tsunami from wiping out African American net worth unless we put straight cash into their hands sometime between now and 2053, and it's not just them, it is truck drivers, it is retail clerks, it is call center workers, it is accountants, it is bookkeepers. We are in the midst of the greatest economic transformation in the history of our country, and it's going to hit black people the hardest. We have to stop nibbling at the edges and actually start solving the real problem.

George S.: (45:39)
We've been getting a lot of questions from Apple News in tonight, including many about a candidate who's not on the stage tonight, but is in this race, and that is former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York. And this question came in from Nashville, Tennessee, says "Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has entered the race and just got the endorsement of a former Trump Navy Secretary. Why do you think you are better positioned than Bloomberg to beat Trump?" Senator Warren.

Elizabeth Warren: (46:03)
Look, I don't think anyone ought to be able to buy their way into a nomination or to be president of the United States. I don't think any billionaire ought to be able to do it, and I don't think people who suck up to billionaires in order to fund their campaigns out to do it. I heard everyone here talking about as Democrats, we all want to overturn Citizens United because we want to end this unlimited spending, yeah. Except everyone on this stage except Amy and me is either a billionaire or is receiving help from PACs that can do unlimited spending. So if you really want to live where you say, then put your money where your mouth is and say no to the PACs.

Elizabeth Warren: (46:54)
Look, I think the way we build a democracy going forward is not billionaires reaching in their own pockets or people sucking up to billionaires. The way we build it going forward is we have a grassroots movement funded from the grassroots up. That's the way I'm running this campaign. If you think it's the right way to run a campaign, to go elizabethwarren.com and pitch in $5, because understand this: our democracy hangs in the balance. If we have to fund through billionaires, then we're just going to be an America that's going to work better and better for billionaires and not for anyone else.

George S.: (47:33)
Senator Klobuchar, then Senator Sanders.

Amy Klobuchar: (47:34)
So I can't stand the big money in politics, and one of my major focuses is going to be on passing that constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. I didn't come from money, and I just simply think people don't look at the guy in the White House and say "Can we get someone richer?" I don't think they think that. They want to have someone that they can understand. And you know my background. My grandpa was an iron ore miner, he worked 1500 feet underground in the mines his whole life. He couldn't even graduate from high school because he had to raise his nine brothers and sisters. My grandpa saved money in a coffee can to send my dad to a two year community college. That was my family's trust, and you can't send, like Donald Trump got from his family, you can't fit $413 million in a coffee can.

Amy Klobuchar: (48:26)
My mom grew up and wanted to be a teacher in Wisconsin. She moved to Minnesota, she taught second grade until she was 70 years old. And no, I am not a billionaire, but I stand before you today as granddaughter of an iron ore miner, the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, the first woman elected to the US Senate from the state of Minnesota, someone who has passed over 100 bills as a lead Democrat in that gridlock in Washington, DC, and that is because we live in a country of shared dreams. And that means no matter where you come from, no matter where you come from, you should be able to make it. So please help me in my efforts at amyklobuchar.com.

George S.: (49:05)
Everybody's getting the fundraising pitches out here.

Amy Klobuchar: (49:06)
This is a campaign of real people.

George S.: (49:07)
Right now, Senator Sanders, I am coming to you, but Mayor Bloomberg is-

Bernie Sanders: (49:11)
Let's talk about money, and let's talk about-

George S.: (49:11)
… Let me just put the question to you, because Mayor Bloomberg has taken on your argument-

Bernie Sanders: (49:14)
… I've got to answer before the question, it's more …

George S.: (49:16)
… he says we need evolution, not revolution.

Bernie Sanders: (49:18)
I couldn't hear that.

George S.: (49:19)
Mayor Bloomberg has said we need evolution, not revolution, taking you on directly.

Bernie Sanders: (49:23)
Well, it's a funny thing. There are millions of people who can desire to run for office, but I guess if you're work $60 billion and you can spend several hundred million dollars on commercials, you have a slight advantage. That is nonsense. What we have got to do is have a nation in which we not only overturn Citizens United, we move to public funding of election.

Bernie Sanders: (49:51)
In terms of money in politics, our campaign, and I am enormously proud of this, unlike some of the folks up here, I don't have 40 billionaires, Pete, contributing to my campaign, coming from the pharmaceutical industry, coming from Wall Street, and all the big money interests. What we do have is we have now over six million contributions from one and a half million people averaging $18.50 a contribution. That is unprecedented in the history of American politics. If we want to change America, you're not going to do it be electing candidates who are going out to rich people's homes begging for money. The way we're going to do it is build a mass movement of working people who are prepared to stand up, not take money from these billionaires, not take money from Wall Street, but stand up to the drug companies and Wall Street. And if you want to be part of that political revolution, berniesanders.com.

George S.: (51:03)
Mayor Buttigieg, close this round out.

Pete Buttigieg: (51:09)
We are going into the fight of our lives. Donald Trump, according to news reports, and his allies raised $25 million today. We need to go into that fight with everything that we've got. Now I've been very clear on both my record, where I have sued pharmaceutical companies, and what I'm campaigning for, that includes raising wages and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. And as the only person on this stage who is not a millionaire or a billionaire, I know a thing or two about building a movement because mayor of South Bend, Indiana is not exactly an establishment fundraising powerhouse.

Pete Buttigieg: (51:49)
We are here without the involvement of any corporate PACs because hundreds of thousands of people went to, yes, peteforamerica.com, contributed to this campaign, and let me say something else. If we want to bring about any of the changes that everyone is talking about so elegantly up here, we need to put together the majority that can decisively defeat Donald Trump. And in order to do that, we need a politics that is defined not by who we reject, but how we bring everybody into the fold. And if you are low-income, or if you're able to contribute a lot. If you've always voted Democrat, or if you're an Independent or even a Republican who's just sick of looking your kids in the eye and trying to explain this White House, we need you to join us right now. I will not pursue politics by telling people they can't be at our side if they're not with us 100% of the time. This is a time for addition, not rejection, for belonging, not exclusion.

David Muir: (52:49)
Mayor Buttigieg, thank you. I want to turn to climate change and jobs here in America. President Trump just signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, many call it an updated NAFTA. But it odes include incentives to make cars here in North America and it does open Canadian markets for American dairy farmers. Senator Sanders, as we sit here in New Hampshire tonight, both New Hampshire senators Maggie Hassan and Senator Jeanne Shaheen supported this, calling it a real win for workers and for farmers. You voted no, because you said you believe it takes us back years on climate. Were the senators from New Hampshire wrong?

Bernie Sanders: (53:26)
Yes. I mean, it's a disagreement, but if you look at every environmental group in this country, including the Sunrise organization, we're so proud to have their support, because we have introduced the most comprehensive climate change proposal I think ever authored by a presidential candidate. But they are saying, what the environmental groups are saying, we're simply exporting fossil fuel emissions to Mexico. There is not one word in that trade agreement …

Bernie Sanders: (54:03)
There is not one word in that trade agreement that deals with climate change and I don't know how in 2020 you can do that. Second of all, there is, in terms of outsourcing of jobs, a major crisis in this country. Nobody believes that under this Trump trade agreement that they will not be continued and significant outsourcing of jobs into low wage Mexico, where workers are paid in some cases less than $2 an hour. So I think the right vote was the vote against that agreement. I don't apologize for that.

George S.: (54:36)
Senator Sanders, thank you. I do want to go to Senator Klobuchar. You've heard what Senator Sanders just said there. He said not one word on climate in the trade deal. So why did you vote yes?

Amy Klobuchar: (54:44)
Well, first of all, I want to defend the honor of the incredible two senators from New Hampshire, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, who work so hard for this state every day and I voted with them. Why did I vote with them? Because there were some major improvements in this trade agreement when it comes to labor inspections, when it comes to getting rid of a sweetheart pharma deal that was in place and when it comes to climate change, I think we have to have a North American trading block. We have to have Mexico and Canada and America working together and the best way to take on climate change as president, yes, I'll work to make this a part of every future trade agreement, but the best way to take on climate change is by getting back into the international climate change agreement, which I will do on day one.

Amy Klobuchar: (55:32)
It is bringing back the clean power rules. It is bringing back the gas mileage standards and it is introducing sweeping legislation to put a price on carbon and you cannot divorce trade from that, and in future trade agreements, that should be part of our negotiations. But I'm telling you right now, having no trade agreement with Canada and Mexico puts us at such a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with China and pushing China to do better when it comes to climate change.

George S.: (55:59)
Senator Klobuchar, thank you. Senator Warren, you voted yes as well.

Elizabeth Warren: (56:03)
Yes I did, and I'll tell you why, because there are a lot of farmers around this country that are really hurting because of Donald Trump's trade policies. There are a lot of workers who are hurting because they can't get enforcement of any workers' rights. So this NAFTA provision, after a lot of negotiation with Democrats, Senator Sherrod Brown helped make it a whole lot better. This makes things somewhat better for workers and for farmers and when I see a law that makes things somewhat better for hardworking people in this country, I'm saying, I'll sign up for that and then I'll get up tomorrow morning and I'll start working hard for a better trade deal on climate, a better trade deal that has a basic coherence to it. Everyone wants to get to the American market. We should be raising standards on climate around the world to get access to our market.

George S.: (56:56)
Mr. Steyer.

Tom Steyer: (56:58)
Yeah, I got to agree with Bernie Sanders, I do. Senator Warren is right. Everybody wants to get into our market, and that's how we convince them that they've got to be right on climate too. That we have to stop making foreign policy decisions in the old way. Yeah, of course, we want to make things better for American workers, and it's absolutely critical that when we think about trade policy, we're thinking about it from the point of view of the American people, not of the American corporations. That's a huge positive change. And I agree with the senators on that, but there's something else going on here when we think about our foreign policy. We talked about whether it was right to kill General Soleimani, and there was no discussion in that about where that leaves the United States in the community of nations around the world.

Tom Steyer: (57:55)
So if we actually want to be the leaders of the world, the leaders of the free world who can actually negotiate a climate treaty around the world that sticks, that makes a difference, we're going to have to put climate first, and when we think about doing the wrong thing, the way Mr. Trump did with General Soleimani, we have to ask, does that help us build a coalition of countries around the world to do the right thing? It absolutely does not.

Tom Steyer: (58:21)
Being all by ourselves, being the Empire in the Star Wars movie does not put us in a position to get done what we need to get done as the leader of the free world. So in fact, the USMCA is something, that's the first step, but the second step is exactly what Bernie Sanders is saying. Use access to our market as a negotiating thing to make sure not only that we represent American workers, but that we represent the American people in the long run and we make sure that we get a safe climate deal.

Amy Klobuchar: (58:50)
One of the things about being in the arena is you have to make decisions all the time and these things aren't always exactly how you would do them. But in this case, if you want to criticize Trump for not ever having any friends, and I would agree, he always sides with tyrants over innocents. He always sides with dictators over allies, but I think you've got to have some friends and those two countries, our neighbors, may not be perfect, but they are our friends, and we have a president that literally blames everyone in the world, and we have not talked about this enough.

Amy Klobuchar: (59:21)
He blames Barack Obama for everything that goes wrong. He blames his federal reserve chair that he appointed himself. He blames the King of Denmark, who does that? He blames the prime minister of Canada for, he claims, cutting him out of the Canadian version of Home Alone 2, who does that? That's what Donald Trump does. So my point here is that when we have opportunities to work with our allies, and New Hampshire is such a great example of this, New Hampshire, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, with senators like Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassen, who believe we need to work with NATO and the rest of the world who sees it as a smaller state, but a state that is a piece of the world. We cannot be alone, and that trade agreement was not perfect, but the point of it is, if we start isolating ourselves from the rest of the world, we are going to hurt ourselves economically and we are going to hurt our nation's security.

George S.: (01:00:17)
All right. Senator Klobuchar, thanks very much. We have hit the two hour mark, we need to take a quick break and come back for the final question.

Devin Dwyer: (01:02:40)
Welcome back to Manchester, New Hampshire and the ABC News Democratic Debate. Thanks for joining us here on ABC News Live tonight. I'm Devin Dwyer, joined with our political correspondent, Rachel Scott. Rachel, we heard so much this last block about gun policy, abortion, climate change, and then the issue of race, pushed on by Tom Steyer and really a lot of the candidates confronting Joe Biden, a sign of where this campaign is headed.

Rachel Scott: (01:03:05)
Exactly, Devin. Steyer tonight calling out the lack of discussion when it comes to race on that stage, the conversation turning 90 minutes into this debate and Biden touting what the national polls reflect. His loyalty among African American voters. I have sat down with the vice president, he has told me it's one of the things that he is most proud of, his loyalty among black supporters, and if you want to just see how important black voters are to the democratic base, all you have to look at are the numbers from 2016, the exit polls from that primary, 6 out of 10 voters in Mississippi were black, 61% of voters in the South Carolina primary were black, and that's where the candidates are going to be heading very soon ahead of that.

Devin Dwyer: (01:03:41)
And to Nevada as well with a lot of voters of color there and Joe Biden holding a lion's share of those voters. We'll see if these candidates can chip away. You know, we were talking so many of the policies we heard about tonight, like so many of the previous debates, are familiar positions from these candidates, which is why the style of their performance tonight is going to get a lot of attention from voters.

Rachel Scott: (01:04:02)
It will, but you know, when I talk to voters as I travel the country, they tell me their number one concern is electability. They want someone that could be President Trump, they want someone that could carry this over the finish line and that's why you hear so much of the session pitting back to who can do that on that stage today.

Devin Dwyer: (01:04:18)
I was up in Derry, New Hampshire just yesterday hearing not only a lot of attention on those qualities of style, but also a lot of anxiety over this issue of electability particularly now with Donald Trump's polling numbers on the rise, his performance at the State of the Union and his acquittal in that Senate trial. It's going to be a four day sprint, I know you're going to be out there all weekend as I will as well and we were just talking about what this moment in this campaign will mean. We could see a dramatically smaller field after Tuesday night here in New Hampshire.

Rachel Scott: (01:04:49)
Tom Perez came out here and he said, listen, we are beginning a 90 day sprint. Most of the delegates are going to be grabbed up by the end of this 90 days and the candidates really have to hone in on their pitch here. The voting has started, already. We're moving into the New Hampshire primary and a lot of these candidates have a lot on the line here. They only have a few days left to gain momentum before that next vote is cast, and again, this race is getting tighter and tighter.

Devin Dwyer: (01:05:13)
And we know Donald Trump will be here in New Hampshire and Manchester as well, on Monday. So things are going to get a little even more exciting four days ahead of the New Hampshire primaries. We had back now for the final question in this ABC News Democratic Debate. Take a look at the speaking times of the candidates. We'll leave you with that. Joe Biden, top of the list, all the candidates back at their podiums. Stay with us right here on ABC News Live.

Announcer: (01:05:45)
The democratic debate. Here now, George Stephanopoulos.

George S.: (01:05:49)
Welcome back to our debate, time now for a final question. Each of you will answer it in turn. We'll start with Mr.Yang, and the question is this. According to the Children's Defense Fund, it's been more than 20 years since child poverty was directly addressed in a presidential debate. The year was 1999 the question was our friend and former [inaudible 01:06:13] who may be watching right now, the late Cokie Roberts.

George S.: (01:06:19)
Cokie loved the New Hampshire primary, and she asked the candidates in this Republican debate, how will we overcome the scandal of one quarter of American preschoolers living in poverty in the richest nation on earth? Today, nearly one in five American preschoolers are still living below the poverty line, even though we've had 10 straight years of economic growth. What does that say to you about where America is today and what we need to do about it?

Andrew Yang: (01:06:46)
George, we're in the midst of the most extreme winner take all economy in the history of our country, and unfortunately, that extremity is just going to reach unprecedented heights as technology is getting stronger, smarter, more capable all the time, and most of us are not. Most adults feel happy if we stayed about the same on any given day. So if we want to alleviate child poverty, we need to put money directly into the hands of families, particularly single parents, 40% of American children today are born to single moms, 90% of single parents are single moms and right now we have fallen into this trap where we have allowed the market to tell us what we are all worth.

Andrew Yang: (01:07:29)
What is the market value my wife, Evelyn had, or stay at home parents around the country? Zero. Caregivers taking care of ailing loved ones, like Kyle Christensen in Iowa? Zero. Volunteers and activists in our communities trying to do something positive? Zero. Coaches and mentors helping our kids? Zero. Most artists, sorry artists, but it's true. Zero. Increasingly local journalists, which is wiping out our ability to have a functioning democracy because you can't vote on something if you actually don't have any news coverage. The mission in this campaign has to be for us to disentangle economic value and human value, say they are not the same things and make this case to our fellow Americans. That we each have intrinsic value as citizens, as human beings and as owners and shareholders of the richest country in the history of the world.

Pete Buttigieg: (01:08:27)
The problem is, America's been counting the wrong things. Now we have a president who says the economy is fantastic because the Dow Jones is looking good. I'm sure if you've got a building with your name on it close to Wall Street, then that really is the same thing as the economy to you. But the problem is, we've had an economy grow and not be able to lift up those most in need, or even so many in the middle.

Pete Buttigieg: (01:08:53)
When I'm president, we're going to measure the performance of our economy, not by the Dow Jones but by the income growth of the 90%, because a good economy is one where children are being lifted out of poverty. Just as we focused in South B on cutting the poverty rate, in particular, the black poverty rate and making sure families with children were participating in the growth that we did have. This is one more example of something where the American people want to see change. The American people, not just die hard Democrats, but so many Independents and some Republicans, think we need to prioritize economic equity and yet it still doesn't happen. That is why we need to recognize that the time has arrived for a different kind of politics. To turn the page, leave the politics of the past in the past and deliver a better future before it is too late.

George S.: (01:09:47)
Senator Warren.

Elizabeth Warren: (01:09:52)
So I started my grownup life as a special education teacher. I learned early on about the worth of every single human being, and I believe that the best investment we can make as a nation, the best investment we can make as human beings, is to invest in our children. We've had enough of making rhetoric around this. Everyone says they love the kids, but here's the deal. It's time to come up with real plans to make that happen. I've talked before about a two cent wealth tax, but the whole idea behind it is we can do early childhood education and good quality child care, universal pre-K for every three year old and four year old in America, and we can stop exploiting the people, largely black and brown women who do this work and raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher in America.

Elizabeth Warren: (01:10:53)
We want to have a real future in this country, then invest in our children. Don't leave public education just to our localities in our states. Be a good federal partner. Put real money into our schools, put real money into housing, put real money into into healthcare. Put real money into the future of our children. That's how we build the America of our best values.

George S.: (01:11:22)
Mr. Vice President.

Joe Biden : (01:11:26)
I come from a family where our dad walked in one day and said, we've got to move. Don't have a job. We've got to move to a different city. I watched my dad and I met many people here in this state and others, who go through the same thing where the father's made that longest walk or the mother's made that longest walk. I was listed for the entire time I was in the United States Congress as the poorest man in the United States Congress. My net worth was net zero a couple of times. The fact of the matter is that I've never focused on money for me and I was a single dad for five years. It's not as hard as being a single mom and I had help from my sisters in the audience and others, but the fact is that I think we have to focus on what is at stake here.

Joe Biden : (01:12:09)
These aren't someone else's children. They're all our children. They're the kite strings that lift our national ambitions, they really are. They lift our national ambitions aloft. We have an overwhelming interest, overwhelming interest in seeing to it they do well. You know, 24 out of every 100 students in school today, from grade school to high school, are Latino. What are we going to do? Walk away from that?

Joe Biden : (01:12:33)
Many of them come from homes that are poor, very poor. That's why I invest so much time and energy in preschool. That's why if I only have $1 to spend, I spend it equipping the child before they get into school in the early day, than after and we talk about all those kids out there that are going to be graduating. A great number of them, as Mr. Yang said, aren't going on to college, although I think we should help with college. They're not going on to college. What they're going to do, they're going to be equipped to compete in the 21st century by training them for the new trades, the new opportunities, the new capabilities that are out there. We must focus on our children. Like I said, they're all our children, they're not somebody else's kids. Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone, as my father would say, is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and we're not doing it.

George S.: (01:13:20)
Senator Sanders.

Bernie Sanders: (01:13:21)
Well, the answer to your question of why we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth, disproportionately high for the African American community, by the way, is the same reason that we give massive trillion dollar tax breaks to the rich and large corporations. Same reason that we give tens of billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry, while half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. The same reason that we have three people in America owning more wealth than the bottom half of America.

Bernie Sanders: (01:13:59)
The same reason that we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right. Same reason as to why we are paying in some cases 10 times more than other countries for prescription drugs, and that reason is that our priorities are determined by the 1% and by wealthy campaign contributors. Our priorities are determined by those who want to see the rich get richer and are turning their backs on the working families of this country. What is unique about our campaign, is we say, unashamedly, we are raising our campaign contributions, not from billionaires but from working class people. That our campaign is about the working families of this country for the working class of this country and that is the administration that we will run. It is time to take on the big money interests. It is time to change our national priorities. Thank you.

George S.: (01:15:02)
Senator Klobuchar.

Amy Klobuchar: (01:15:05)
In Cokie's memory, let me answer this question. We may have lost an election in 2016, Democrats, but we did not lose hope. And there is a way, it's actually based on a National Academy of Science report and I've used that to put together a plan to reduce child poverty in half in 10 years and eradicate it in a generation. We can do it with investment in childcare. We can do it with investment in preschool and school and we can do it with tax credits and we can get it done. But to get it done, we have to be able to reach those voters that we lost in this state and across the country.

Amy Klobuchar: (01:15:43)
There's an old story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and when he died, his body was put on a train and went up across America and there was a guy standing by those tracks along with so many Americans, and he had his hat on his chest and he was sobbing and a reporter said, Sir, did you know the president? And the guy says, no, I didn't know the president, but he knew me. He knew me. I will tell you this, there is a complete lack of empathy in this guy in the White House right now. I will bring that to you.

Amy Klobuchar: (01:16:20)
If you have trouble stretching your paycheck to pay for that rent. I know you and I will fight for you. If you have trouble deciding if you're going to pay for your childcare or your longterm care, I know you and I will fight for you. If you have trouble figuring out if you're going to fill your refrigerator or fill your prescription drug, I know you and I will fight for you. I do not have the biggest name up on this stage. I don't have the biggest bank account. I'm not a political newcomer with no record, but I have a record of fighting for people. I'm asking you to join us@amyklobuchar.com. I'm asking you to believe that someone who totally believes in America can win this because if you are tired of the extremes in our politics and the noise and the nonsense, you have a home with me, Please, New Hampshire, I would love your vote and I would love the vote of America. Thank you.

George S.: (01:17:17)
Mr. Steyer.

Tom Steyer: (01:17:24)
The Republicans have a cruel plan and their plan is pretty simple. It's to cut taxes on the richest Americans and the biggest corporations and then they pay for it by cutting education for kids, by cutting healthcare across the board, by allowing corporations to pollute as much as they want, and then they try and break unions and the organized labor movement. It's very simple. That's what Mr. Trump's plan is and it's true in every single red state, but we are not going to win by just criticizing Mr. Trump. I know that there is a better America out there and that America lives in our hearts and minds. And that America understands that when a kid succeeds in Columbia, South Carolina, that is a triumph for every American. And the same is true of a kid in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Trump has no idea what prosperity looks like across this country. It's not just that he does bad things. He doesn't understand that investing in education and healthcare and good union jobs is actually an investment in our common humanity and in growth in the future, mobility and justice. That is the America that lives in our hearts and minds that will beat Mr. Trump, because he will never be able to imagine it. So in fact, what we need to do is have a new conception, a new dream of America, dream it and make it happen. Imagine the mountain and then we climb it together. We are in perilous times. I am asking for your vote. Let's rise together.

George S.: (01:19:09)
Candidates. Thank you. Thanks for a great debate tonight. Thanks to our audience here at Saint Anselm College. Thanks for our partners, WMUR and Apple News and now I'd like to send it to my colleague Martha Raddatz.