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CNN Live Event/Special
A Night Of Chaotic Showdown Between Candidates; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Presidential Candidate, Is Interviewed About Why She Thinks She Deserves To Be The Next President Compared To Bernie Sanders; The Gloves Come Off In South Carolina Democratic Debate; Tom Steyer (D), Presidential Candidate, Is Interviewed About The Democratic Debate In South Carolina, Joe Biden's Attacks, Racial Justice, Investing In Private Prisons, And Donald Trump; CNN's Gary Tuchman Speaks With A Group Of Voters In South Carolina. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired February 25, 2020 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But he did stop. That reminded you of why you care about this guy. He's been on American scene for a long time. You know, he gets shouty. That doesn't work as well.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Shouty?
JONES: Shouty.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: That's a new word.
JESS MCINTOSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
JONES: He gets shouty.
ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, the first finger also starts to come out and you know when he's --
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: So that part. Listen, you know, Pete Buttigieg is very interesting to me because he continues to make this case about Congress. It's not just about me. I don't just care about myself. I care about the Congress. I care about the Senate, I care about the House where there are a bunch of super delegates by the way who are sitting in the wings and on the second vote, if nobody has a majority on the first vote, surprise, surprise.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. But, Van, I mean, the reality is that, that is a conversation that a lot of Democrats are having, because they're concerned about Bernie Sanders in the suburbs where Democrats picked up, you know, three dozen seats or so in the last election and whether he at the top of the ticket would jeopardize those House seats. That is one of the arguments you hear against his candidacy among people within the party.
JONES: It's an argument that people are making across the board. I think it's also just convenient that Pete, the only way Pete is going to be the nominee is if there's a brokered convention and people turn to him.
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: So, I think the only way Pete is going to be the nominee is if he can persuade some African-Americans to vote for him. And I thought -- I thought he had a great debate tonight. I really thought he was the best on that stage.
But the question is, did he move the needle at all? He's got -- he's polling 4 percent among African-Americans in South Carolina. Do you think that he moved the needle at all with those voters? And if not, to what avail was it?
EL-SAYED: So, two points. Pete is extremely smart and that's clear. At points you feel like he gets bored of his own message. He really wants to be a pundit and to describe what's happening rather to actually talk about what matters for people. And I don't know that that's going to play very well over the long term.
Also, for somebody who admires Congress so much you'd think he might run for congress which seems like a logical thing to do if you're mayor of a small city.
BORGER: And you're 38 years old.
EL-SAYED: And you're 38 years old.
BORGER: To start there.
EL-SAYED: But to step back for a second, we did talk about Bloomberg a bit and we did say that, you know, he wasn't the butt of all jokes and he tried to even make a couple of jokes. You wonder if this is the best he can do. You ask yourself why he's still in this race. It's clear, if you've been surrounded by people who laugh at your jokes because they're paid to do it.
BORGER: Well, he started.
(CROSSTALK)
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: He has $60 billion. That's why he's still in the race. He is running these ads. I was in Illinois a couple of days ago and he has this very powerful ad talking about criminal justice --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: These ads are great.
HENDERSON: -- reform and there was a criminal justice advocate who is talking about how great Michael Bloomberg is. So that's why he's still in this race. He's also in this race because there are, I think, a certain segment of Democratic voters who think you need a rich white man to take on a rich white man. And you can see that in the polls. He's had, I think about 15 percent.
He's got some traction in some of these Super Tuesday states as well and with African-American voters.
Mayor Steve Benjamin in South Carolina has endorsed him, Mayor Nutter, a bunch of black mayors from across the country. I thought he had a terrible debate early on. Got a little better when he started talking about some of the things he actually did in New York with obesity and other issues.
But listen, I think if you are worried about a Bloomberg candidacy you have Warren to thank tonight because she keeps going after him in a way that I think is going to do her some good.
MCINTOSH: That recitation of Republicans that he has supported --
(CROSSTALK)
HENDERSON: Yes, exactly.
MCINTOSH: -- was just such a strong moment and it wound up -- and then she went back to the NDAs and it wound up with almost another nevertheless she persisted moment, when he says enough is never enough for you. And I think that was probably something it resonated with some of the --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Let's play actually what he -- what she said about his support for Republican candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mayor Bloomberg, let's think of it this way, we're here in Charleston, and you know who's going to be in Charleston later this week is Donald Trump?
He's going to be here to raise money for his buddy Senator Lindsey Graham, who funded Lindsey Graham's Campaign for reelection last time? It was Mayor Bloomberg. And that's not the only right-wing senator that Mayor Bloomberg has funded.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have been training for this job since I stepped in the pile that was still smoldering on 9/11. I know what to do. I've shown I know how to run a country. I've run the city which is almost the same size -- bigger than most countries in the world.
I am not -- I am the one choice that makes some sense, I have the experience, I have the resources and I have the record. And all those side shows that the senator wants to bring up have nothing to do with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BORGER: I don't understand how you call things like that side shows. It is your record.
MCINTOSH: Yes.
BORGER: It is who you are and who you have been for the past 20 years.
[23:05:00]
Now, some Democrats may say that's fine. We don't mind that he's been bipartisan. He's allowed to give his money to all kinds of causes and he's done some great things. But it seems arrogant.
JONES: Yes.
BORGER: To say it doesn't matter and what's in my ads matters. So, you have to come out from behind the curtain, and I think we've seen him do that and he hasn't been particularly impressive. Better today than last time.
And I think at some point you have to get people to say this is the person I am trusting to be commander in chief and I have to kind of understand him a little bit more and I don't just want the know what's in a glossy ad, money gets you so far, but not the whole distance.
EL-SAYED: He's so disconnected from the challenges that real people face. I mean, I'm from Michigan and one of the defining issues we've had to deal with is the Flint water crisis. This guy spent $3 million to reelect a Republican governor who then went on to poison Flint.
And so, you think about him thinking about these things are side shows, because he's so used to setting an agenda to deciding what matters among the mountain of people that work for him. That actually in this case it's what matters to the American people.
This man doesn't know what it's like to live on minimum wage in America, he doesn't know what it's like to suffer without the healthcare that you need. He doesn't know what it's like to be worried about losing your job.
COOPER: But couldn't you make that --
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: Those people that --
COOPER: Look, couldn't you make that same argument about Donald Trump? I mean.
EL-SAYED: Absolutely.
COOPER: Yes. But he's president.
EL-SAYED: And we end up having -- if we end up having a Donald Trump versus --
(CROSSTALK) COOPER: No, no, but he was able to, nevertheless, he was able to win,
and might very well win again.
EL-SAYED: Here's the difference though. Donald Trump has an understanding, he's a showman, he has an understanding of what gets to people. Mayor Bloomberg clearly is not. I mean, he --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But his argument would be, you know what, I'm not a great communicator, I'm not a great politician and I've done a lot of stupid stuff, like I've learned a lot in my time --
(CROSSTALK)
EL-SAYED: And if that's your argument how can you president of --
COOPER: -- but --
AXELROD: That would have been a good -- that would have been a good thing to say tonight.
BORGER: Right.
COOPER: But I get it done. You know what, I can run this -- I can run this country, I've run this huge city, I can get it done. I mean, it's like the George W. Bush -- H.W. Bush speech, you know, I hear the voices of --
AXELROD: Right.
COOPER: -- you know, or I see the people, I hear the people.
AXELROD: You can't argue -- you can't argue -- it's not really right to say because he is wealthy that he -- because, you know, Franklin Roosevelt who everybody reveres was incredibly wealthy. I don't think that disqualifies you and he has done things on issues like guns, that very material in your hometown of Detroit and in my hometown of Chicago, very, very significant.
But you're running to be the Democratic nominee and, you know, the reason that Elizabeth Warren piece was so devastating was, I mean, you're funding people who are anathema to -- Lindsey Graham is anathema to Democrats. And it's hard for people to understand how you could be the leader of this team when you're funding that team.
EL-SAYED: Well, David, that's been his problem. Push back on the point, though. Right? The problem with him is not that he's rich. It's not even that he's a billionaire. It's that he fundamentally lacks the empathy to appreciate how his policies in New York hurt people.
He had the opportunity again to apologize for stop and frisk.
JONES: Yes.
EL-SAYED: And his apology was more like, why do you guys keep asking me, I've already said I'm sorry. And I lived in New York during stop and frisk. I know what it's like to be stop and frisked as a brown man.
AXELROD: Yes.
EL-SAYED: That disrespect for people and lack of empathy, that's the problem, that's what we can't have in a president.
HENDERSON: People expected him to get closer to showing some empathy on stop and frisk of this go around. He was just as terrible in this debate and in terms of his answer being very dismissive. Essentially say this is a side show too.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: You know, let's play -- let's play what he said and then we can keep talking about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLOOMBERG: We let it get out of control and when I realized that I cut it back by 95 percent and I've apologized and asked for forgiveness. I've met with black leaders to try to get an understanding of how I can better position myself, and what I should have done and what I should do next time.
But let me tell you. I have been working very hard, we've improved the school system for black and brown students in New York City. We've increased the jobs that are available to them. We've increased the housing that's available to them. We have programs like --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But what more can you do about this issue, Mr. Mayor, to put people's fears and skepticism to rest.
BLOOMBERG: I think they just --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It continues to follow you.
BLOOMBERG: No. Well, that's because it's in their interest to promote that. But if you talk to the people in New York City, I have over 100 black elected officials that have endorsed me, a lot of them are in the audience tonight, and I've earned the respect of people in New York City.
I was the mayor of the largest, most populous city in the United States for 12 years, and people will tell you it's a lot better city today. It is safer for everybody. The school system is better. The budget is under control.
[23:10:02]
We've done the things that people need in New York City. For all ethnicities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTOSH: Can I just say white candidates have to stop doing this, I have black friends as an answer to something racist that has happened, that they have done in their past, that they've said or done?
And he keeps saying when I realized stop and frisk had gone too far, as if there was not a court order to stop it because he had been sued and he fought it and they won.
COOPER: And he was backing it up as late as 2018.
MCINTOSH: Until he ran for president, he was backing it up.
AXELROD: The realization was a week before something that he announced for president and he doesn't feel very convincing when he offers his apology.
Mike Bloomberg thinks that he is the most qualified person to be president based on what he's done. He approaches this as a job interview and this other stuff he does not think is particularly relevant.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes, that's the --
YANG: Bloomberg's case for the nomination is essentially the opposite of Pete Buttigieg's. And let me explain. So, this election, this primary is going to happen on Saturday and on Super Tuesday, literally three days later.
Pete's campaign does not have the financial resources to advertise in the Super Tuesday states at a competitive level. That's why they put out this plea for donations very recently because they need that ad money. They need to cut those ads and then put them in those markets as quickly as possible.
And three days is not enough time really to do it. Even if he has a good result in South Carolina, which none of us really expects. Bloomberg's argument is essentially the opposite.
It's like, I've got infinite bankroll to fund ads in Super Tuesday and throughout the entire primaries and against Donald Trump, whatever the Republicans marshal as resources I can outspend.
The big missing piece to me is why Bloomberg would not just take all of these resources and put them towards a candidate that he believed in. It reminds me of like a movie director who cast himself. You know what I mean? It's like, I can't find anyone who's going to be better in this role than me. And like, you know, I looked in the mirror and I said -- so that's like a very big question in my mind.
But the argument he has is going to stick with us this entire primary season as long as he stays in the race. I thought today was a much better debate for Mike, and I actually say, I have to say the improvement from less than a week ago to today, was significant. Like he went from being, you know, looking like he didn't belong to at least seeming like he fit in.
COOPER: We've got to take a quick break. We're going to hear from Elizabeth -- Senator Elizabeth Warren when we come back, as well as other candidates. More on the impact of what they said when our coverage continues.
[23:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We're back to debate night in South Carolina. I want to go straight to Erin Burnett and Dana Bash and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Dana? Erin?
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right. Thank you, Anderson. We are here with Senator Warren. So, how did you feel tonight in that free for all? How did you feel there?
WARREN: You know, it was a free for all. But I feel good. I got to talk about the things I wanted to talk about. Including why I think I'm the best candidate for president. So that's got to be a good night.
BURNETT: And you did -- you know, some of your fire had not been trained until at one point tonight at Bernie Sanders. But you did directly say tonight --
WARREN: Yes.
BURNETT: -- that you think you will make a better president than Bernie Sanders.
WARREN: Yes, I do.
BURNETT: And do you think you made that case. He obviously came in tonight as a very strong front runner.
WARREN: Look, the way I see is we learn two things that we talk about tonight. The first one is that we've got to understand, the Democratic Party is a progressive party. And progressive ideas are popular. They're popular among Democrats, they're popular among independents, they're popular among Republicans.
My two-cent wealth tax, popular among Democrats and Republicans. Raising social security by $200 a month, popular among Democrats and Republicans. So, there is a real progressive sense of what we can do. We get this moment.
This is not a moment for any of the people on the stage who want to kind of nibble around the edges of problems. I think that this is a progressive moment. But we're only going to get one chance at this. And that means we need a president who has a track record for getting things done, for digging in, for doing the hard work, for building the coalitions and for actually getting things done.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Several of your fellow Democrats, your competitors, made very clear in no uncertain terms that they believe that Bernie Sanders, as the Democratic nominee, will be a disaster for Democrats, that he can't win because of his progressive policies. Some of the ones that you were talking about. Do you subscribe to that? Do you think Bernie Sanders can beat Donald Trump?
WARREN: Look, I think that the most dangerous candidate on that stage for Democrats is Michael Bloomberg because right now Michael Bloomberg has dumped what is it, $400 million into buying his way onto that debate stage, and yet look at all the things that are not yet exposed about Michael Bloomberg, how much support he has given to Republicans. Which raises a real question.
So, OK, he beats Donald Trump and then who is he really, is he a Democrat or is he a Republican? His history with women. His attacking of African-Americans and Latinos, blaming them, blaming red lining. Blaming them for the housing crash in 2008.
This is not a man who's going to be able to garner the support of all of the Democrats, and that would be a real problem for us going into 2020 --
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Let me ask you --
WARREN: -- to the general election.
BASH: Let me ask you just a quick follow, you were not asked about this, nobody was, including the former mayor. His longtime partner Diana Taylor said last night on the question of the NDAs and so forth it was 30 years ago, get over it.
But just to be fair to her the context of that was that she worked on Wall Street, she understands that the culture was very, very different back then, that it was a bro culture.
[23:20:01]
WARREN: Look, if you want to make the argument it was a different culture, fine. Make that argument. But release the women to be able to talk.
This notion that there are I don't know how many women, and maybe men, who claim that they have been harassed or discriminated against and they are not able to tell their stories without fear of being sued by a billionaire, no, that just doesn't cut it, not in the Democratic Party, not in 2020.
BURNETT: So, I want to understand exactly what you're saying on that. Because obviously he said he will release the women from the NDAs.
WARREN: No. BURNETT: Which applied to him specifically. Which he says are three. So, do you say that he's lying or do you think that he should release people from NDAs that had nothing to do with him.
WARREN: Let me be really clear here. If there are only three, and he's right on that, he could sign a general release, because it would apply to only three people. Right? So why won't he sign a general release?
And also, I think it's very important, this is about the mayor himself and the mayor's company that he runs. So not all of this is from 30 years ago. We don't know how much there is and what the time is but I do know this.
Women have had enough of being told, no, no, no, it was a different time. Didn't know how to take a joke. What was it the mayor said? Tonight, enough is enough. No. When we're talking about pregnancy discrimination, which goes on today, enough is not enough. We have to --
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: He denied that that happened.
WARREN: He denied it, but where is she? That's the whole point.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: So, when he made a point --
WARREN: Women should have a chance -- I get to tell my story without fear of being sued by a billionaire. BURNETT: Yes.
WARREN: Other women should be able to do the same.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: So, he said that Bloomberg will no longer have NDA, which he credited you with.
WARREN: Going forward. Good.
BURNETT: Right. But he credited you with that.
WARREN: Great.
BURNETT: That that would be -- that makes a difference. He pointed out when you made the point about pregnancy discrimination, that with what he did in New York, that would be against the law to do to any teacher, does any of that add up to anything to you?
WARREN: Of course, it does. And I'm very, very happy to see it but it does not change the fact that today there are women who claim to have been discriminated against or sexually harassed who are not legally able to speak without running a risk that they will be sued by a billionaire.
And a lot of folks can take that kind of risk. So, all I'm saying is, you know, we talk a lot in the Me Too era about the importance of believing women. How about just starting out by letting them speak? That's what the mayor should do.
BURNETT: And you're saying that releasing three is not enough, that --
WARREN: He picked the three.
BURNETT: So, you want them all released.
WARREN: Yes.
BURNETT: I mean as a lawyer, I mean, I'm just saying, that would be all right for him to do even if the two complainants did not involve himself?
WARREN: Look, --
BURNETT: You know, some other person, man who worked at Bloomberg, and a woman who worked at Bloomberg.
WARREN: It's his company. He tried last week to take credit. He said, no, no, no, my company won all of these terrific awards and therefore that reflects on me. Well, you know, you've got to take the up with the down in that argument. He's the one who opened that door. Once you've opened that door and it's absolutely clear you've got to take whatever is out there for the companies that you run.
This is about taking responsibility. And look, it really is about who we can trust to be our nominee on the Democratic side, going into a general election.
BASH: On that note, let's look ahead.
WARREN: Sure.
BASH: We have the primary here on Saturday.
WARREN: Yes.
BASH: Then Super Tuesday.
WARREN: Yes.
BASH: Including your home state of Massachusetts.
WARREN: Yes.
BASH: Where do you see yourself winning in order to keep your campaign going?
WARREN: You know, I just see this as every day I get out here and have a chance to talk about progressive values and to talk about the importance of getting things done, like the consumer agency that I fought for and that has now returned $12 billion directly to people. That's how I make change. And I'm just delighted. I'm honored to be in this fight. Look --
BASH: Will you win Massachusetts?
WARREN: I'll tell you this, when I got in the race, back in 2012, remember, I haven't been in politics that long. It's the first race I ever got in. When I got in in 2012, it was because people were saying Scott Rand the Republican is simply unbeatable. And they also said a woman can't beat him. You know, for which I say Democrats get a better sales pitch.
But I got in that race. I was down 17 points and the good people of Massachusetts basically said to me, you take the point, and we'll come and help you. People volunteered. People made it happen. And I ended up beating him by 7.5 points. I'm deeply grateful to the people of Massachusetts and I've tried really hard to hold faith with all the trust they've put in me.
BASH: Senator, thank you so much.
WARREN: Thank you so much.
BASH: We appreciate it.
WARREN: It's always good to be here. And look, anybody who thinks this is the right way to run a presidential, I hope they go to elizabethwarren.com.
[23:25:03]
After the last debate we had a quarter of a million people come to our web site and say, I'm in this fight for a whole lot of different reasons but ultimately because I believe in the America we can build together.
BURNETT: Thank you.
BASH: Thank you, Senator.
WARREN: So good to see you.
BASH: Thank you. You too.
And we're going to take a quick break. Back with more candidates and more analysis in New York with Anderson and the team. This is a special 360 debate night coverage. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:29:58]
COOPER: Difficult and chaotic were two words that Jess McIntosh she used earlier tonight to describe tonight's Democratic debate.
[23:30:00]
Andrew Yang talked about the fact that for some of the candidates this should be their last chance to try to stand out. Gloria Borger compared Bernie Sanders to a rhetorical and political bulldozer. Listen to this, from Joe Biden, talking about his record on gun control and the African American community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, when we talk about progressive, let's talk about being progressive. Walking distance of here is Mother Emmanuel Church. Nine people shot dead by a white supremacist. Bernie voted five times against the Brady Bill and wanted a waiting period --
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: No, let me finish. A waited a waiting period of 12 hours. I'm not saying he's responsible for the nine deaths but that man would not have been able to get that weapon with the waiting period had been what I suggest until you are cleared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Back now with the team. He brings this up quite a lot as an attack on Sanders and others -- I mean, it's been brought up a number of times during debates in the past, but he's sort of the only one kind of still pushing on this. Does it work?
BORGER: We don't know. But I think -- look, it's an open door for him. He feels it's a real opportunity. I'm surprised Bloomberg -- did Bloomberg chime in on that? I think he might eventually --
AXELROD: My guess is Bloomberg is going to chime in with about $100 million in ads very soon on this.
BORGER: But I think, you know, it's no surprise that Biden would go on the attack this way on Sanders and I think that, you know, there are lots of other issues that Biden can attack him on, but this is just so obvious for him, whether it helps him in South Carolina, it might help him nationally with Democrats certainly to divide Bernie Sanders from what he considers to be the mainstream of the Democratic Party, which he believes that he represents.
And Sanders then comes out and says look, that was a long time ago and I've changed my mind. And I've supported, you know, the assault weapons ban. I lost a race for Congress because I supported the assault weapons ban, which is true.
So Bernie has a good answer on that, which is to say I'm different now from the way I was then, which a lot of politicians up there on that stage, most notably Michael Bloomberg just can't bring --
AXELROD: He lost the race for Congress. He lost the race for Congress before he took the pro-NRA position. So, the sequence is not convenient.
BORGER: You're right, you're absolutely right. But at least he did say them on other issues like (INAUDIBLE). He can't say I made a mistake but --
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah. I mean, I think -- listen, this could help him in South Carolina. He obviously wrapped it in this very painful episode of folks in that Charleston church, Mother Emmanuel being shot dead.
Charleston is going to be an important place to get out the African American vote so you can see him doing that there with this issue that's very important to African Americans. You also saw him do the same thing with Tom Steyer on for-profit prisons.
BORGER: Oh, yeah.
HENDERSON: That's where they got into that big shouting match. You could barely hear what they were saying.
BORGER: That was interesting.
HENDERSON: It was a sort of a Tom Steyer I'd never seen before, yelling on stage because the --
BORGER: Never been attacked.
HENDERSON: Yes. Steyer is doing well with African Americans in South Carolina. He's been on air down there really since the impeachment ads that he's been running for years and years. So you could tell where Biden sees some of the vulnerabilities he has with African American voters.
COOPER: Let's play that exchange there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM STEYER (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I bought stock in a prison company thinking they'd do a better job, and I investigated, and I sold it.
BIDEN: You knew when you bought it they'd done that.
(APPLAUSE)
STEYER: -- question. In fact, since then, I've worked to end the use of private prisons in my home state, and we've ended it. I've started a bank to support black ownership of businesses, women ownership of businesses, and Latino owners of businesses because this financial service industry is prejudiced. I have worked tirelessly on this. You know I'm right. You wrote the crime bill --
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: So, look, I know Tom very well. He took that personally. That wasn't play acting. That wasn't something his team, you know, find a moment or whatever. Some stuff going on up there was that. Tom really believes in racial justice. He does.
And I think for him to get hit on that, I think Tom feels very badly about the fact that he did invest in private prisons and I think now private prisons are in terrible order. He got out of private prisons before they got in terrible order.
But that was an authentic response. And I think, you know, for Biden to go after Tom shows you the fear Biden has that this guy is clawing into my black firewall. It's not just Bernie, it's not -- you've got Tom Steyer in there, as you say, running ad after ad after ad and building black support at Biden's expense -- Tom Steyer's expense.
COOPER: Erin and Dana. Let's go to them.
BASH: Thanks so much. We have Tom Steyer here. You were watching that clip. I won't say it.
[23:35:00]
BASH: You'll say what your reaction was watching it after the fact.
STEYER: Well, you know, racial justice is something I care an amazing amount.
BASH: Yeah.
STEYER: And, you know, my family has been involved in it for decades. And so I take it really seriously. And I was pushing back hard because --
BASH: You were mad.
STEYER: -- I care a lot about it. And I've worked on it for years. And I thought that for someone who wrote the crime bill that put hundreds of thousands of black young men and Latino young men in prison in a way that's never happened before was really unfair.
This is something -- if you look at my history, this is something I've worked on. I was telling the truth. I've worked on this tirelessly. My whole family has. We started a bank literally to push back against racial prejudices in the financial services industry. We've done that for 15 years, not because I was running for president, but because it's the right thing to do and I care about it.
BASH: The fact that the former vice president had his opposition research ready to go, he wanted to hit you on the private prison issue. It's obvious, if you look at the polls, why that is. His campaign, people around him, people who are supporting him think that if his support has gone down here in South Carolina, particularly among African Americans, because you've taken it away. Do you --
STEYER: Look -- honestly, I've been hearing that and that also gets me a little upset. I'll tell you why.
BASH: Don't you want to do well?
STEYER: No, I do want to do well, but there's an implication in there that somehow a politician owns black votes, has a right to black votes. I don't believe that for a second. I think that the truth of the matter is that -- which I've said publicly, the African American community has been the moral leadership of this country. And the idea that somehow losing those votes is losing something that you own, I just completely reject that idea.
BURNETT: So when he said you're Tommy come lately, which we heard there in the clip, but he then said it again --
STEYER: I don't even know that.
BURNETT: You're just jumping into it. He's trying to say, I've spent my decades and decades doing this and here you're coming in, sailing in, thinking you can take it away from me.
STEYER: I have no idea what that means. I find that humorous.
BURNETT: So, again, Joe Biden's focus is on you, though. Does it surprise you? And when you say that a politician owns it, you know, at the end of the debate, you were asked about how -- what you think people don't get about you, and you said that I'm all about business excess and money.
STEYER: The truth of the matter is what I'm really about is what I said, doing the right thing and telling the truth. That's exactly what I try and do all the time. So, I take that really seriously. People always ask me, why do you care about this stuff? The answer is, no, this is who I am. This is what I care about.
I'm not caring about this in order to get something. This is what I care about. This is where my heart is. This is my -- this is what gets me up in the morning and I've been doing it for a long time. This is what I'm interested in and this is my motivation in life. My motivation in life is not to win an election. My motivation in life is to tell the truth and do the right thing. If someone comes after me, I'm upset.
BASH: You outspent your rivals by a lot in Nevada on TV. You think you spent like $12 million or $13 million, correct me if I'm wrong, and you didn't get a lot for it when it comes to votes or delegate caucus support. It could be different here.
But obviously your goal is to be the Democratic nominee. But you also are a businessman who knows math. So what are you thinking as you go into Saturday, but then more broadly -- and about how much money you are willing to spend to keep going?
STEYER: Look, if I can't show that I'm the person who can pull together this broad democratic coalition across racial and philosophical backgrounds, then I -- that's what I intend to show on Saturday. That's what I think is important.
What I was trying to say today is, look, we need to beat Donald Trump in November. That means we have to pull together the Democratic Party. There are a lot more of us than there are of them, but there aren't a lot more of us if we don't all show up.
BASH: How do you quantify showing?
STEYER: Turnout.
BASH: But -- I mean, did you have in your mind a percentage?
STEYER: Oh, no. I think we'll look at it and see. But that's going to be the point. I am serious about this. What I was trying to say tonight is, having a -- the press wants to think that there are really two candidates left in this race, a socialist who wants the government to take over large parts of the economy and a former Republican mayor who has a lot of policies that don't actually accord with democratic values, things like stop-and-frisk and redlining.
And he actually supported -- I think Elizabeth Warren brought up that he supported a lot of Republicans, including George W. Bush. And so the question is, if we're going to try and pull this party together, is that risky or shouldn't we follow somebody who's a progressive Democrat and can pull the party together across all the divisions?
[23:40:04]
STEYER: What I am arguing is that's what we should be doing in order to beat Donald Trump. We need someone who can -- look, Trump is incompetent. We're seeing this in coronavirus. But we're seeing it in his handling of the economy, too.
He is incompetent and we need someone who can talk about competence and job creation and making -- putting money in people's pockets and letting it stay there in a way that hasn't happened in 40 years. That's what Americans need to hear. Why are we better than Donald Trump in terms of their prospects in life?
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Tom Steyer. Appreciate your time tonight.
STEYER: Nice to see you both.
BURNETT: We have to get a break in. And just ahead, we'll hear from a group of South Carolina voters and get their thoughts on what they saw tonight in that fracas.
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: We never get to use that word. We'll be right back. We don't use it enough.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: (INAUDIBLE) candidate or the experts have to say about the debate. What matters most tonight is what primary voters make of what they saw. With that in mind, let's check in with Gary Tuchman in Allendale, South Carolina near the Georgia border.
[23:45:02]
COOPER: Gary?
(LAUGHTER)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, there are 46 counties in the state of South Carolina, and we are here in Allendale County, 90 miles west of where the debate was in Charleston, watching the debate with some loyal Democratic voters here in what may be the bluest county in this red state.
(APPLAUSE)
TUCHMAN: We've got 76 percent of the vote here, Donald Trump 22 percent, highest percentage in the state. Wanted to come here and watch it with these loyal Democrats. Eleven of these 12 people were undecided going into this evening. The one woman sitting in the middle in the front row, (INAUDIBLE), the only one who voted absentee early for Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: But now, we want to see if the 12 of you, who you thought did the best tonight? Who do you think did the best?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought Mike Bloomberg did the best.
TUCHMAN: Mike Bloomberg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel Vice President Biden did the best.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vice President Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Bloomberg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Warren.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Warren.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor Pete.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Biden.
TUCHMAN: How many said Biden? One, two, three, four, five, six. How many said Warren? Two. How many said Bloomberg? Buttigieg? And those were our only votes. So Joe Biden did the best among this group. (APPLAUSE)
TUCHMAN: Eleven of you were undecided. How many now based on this debate decided who they're going to vote for? One, two, three, four. So four of you have now made your decision. Who have you decided you're going to vote for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Biden.
TUCHMAN: Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
TUCHMAN: Buttigieg.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Biden.
TUCHMAN: Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Biden.
TUCHMAN: Biden. Anyone else? The rest of you remain undecided. You already voted --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Already voted.
TUCHMAN: So this is good news for Joe Biden. Why do you think Joe Biden did so well?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Showed character, integrity, and leadership skills. He has the ability to be able to interact with national leaders, international leaders. He's been there. He's done that.
TUCHMAN: Now, Bernie Sanders, the front runner, most delegates so far, none of you picked Bernie Sanders tonight. Why didn't you like Bernie Sanders tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't like how he opened in the debate, by throwing slams at Bloomberg. It just started out on a bad course for the rest of the debate.
TUCHMAN: Do you think there was too much animosity?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, a lot of hostility and it just didn't -- it just wasn't very pleasant to watch most of the debate.
TUCHMAN: Most of you told me before that you think Bloomberg did a better job this time around. Do you think Bloomberg did the best job? Tell me why.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, compared to what his actions last week, he did a much better job.
TUCHMAN: How do you think he handled stop-and-frisk?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he cleaned that up. I think the way that he spoke about it and he owned up to it, I think he put himself in a better position.
TUCHMAN: Do you trust him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do.
TUCHMAN: You do. So you believe in what he says?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Does anyone still have doubts about Mike Bloomberg?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I do.
TUCHMAN: Why? Why do you have doubts about him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't think he cleared it up. I think he said what he wanted Americans to feel or hear from him, but I don't think he was honest with that.
TUCHMAN: Why do you think he wasn't honest? How could you know it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think his facial expressions.
TUCHMAN: Just based on his face?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His face.
TUCHMAN: Let me ask you this question. Most of you like Joe Biden the best right now. Do you think Joe Biden can beat Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Why do you think that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think he has the experience.
TUCHMAN: Is there any concerns, though, about his performances in the past?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so, no, I think he's the man that's got the plan.
TUCHMAN: And the final question I want to ask you, would you vote for any of these Democratic candidates over Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Those are loyal Democrats, as I said, and they will be going to the polls. No early voting in South Carolina except for the absentee ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is early.
TUCHMAN: That's early.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Too early.
TUCHMAN: These people will all be going to the polls --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: -- on Saturday. Back to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Gary, thank you very much and please give our thanks to all of them for that. Thanks very much. Our panel's reaction to what everyone said next. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Before the break, you heard from South Carolina voters in the state's bluest county, weighing in on tonight's debate. Let's go to our own focus group to weigh in right now.
AXELROD: I would say some of these debates have had a real material impact. I don't think this one did. I don't think very much changed tonight.
BORGER: I think you saw a very self-confident Joe Biden, which you have not seen before, predicting he is going to win South Carolina. So we'll have to see if that happens. I think maybe he did himself some good here. And Bloomberg lives to actually compete in a certain point.
HENDERSON: We'll see what Bloomberg does tomorrow. He is in a town hall. That will be interesting. He absolutely prepared for this debate. He did, I think, horribly on some answers, stop-and-frisk in particular. He is not really empathy. But we will see. I mean, a town hall setting will be good because he is going to be interacting with actual human beings. And so maybe he'll be more of a human being.
EL-SAYED: I would have liked to see a lot more substance than style. We got a lot in the weeds and we didn't talk about the suffering that exists in this country right now. I really think that's what these debates should be about.
JONES: I thought that, you know, Bernie emerges essentially unscathed. We saw that he didn't make a big difference in some of those South Carolina voters. Bernie has got to understand there are two different kinds of critics. There are people who are status quo and they are complacent with him. He shows a lot of contempt.
There's another set. They are just afraid. Afraid he can't do it, afraid they are going to lose their seat, afraid he can't get there. And those people need reassurance, not contempt.
COOPER: If you say to him in an interview, you know, well, he says and rallies for now, you know, I'm making a lot of people nervous, the corporate media, Wall Street, democratic establishment.
JONES: Not only establishment. Those people may be complacent. There are other people who are afraid. They need reassurance.
AXELROD: He has to make the transition from insurgent to frontrunner.
ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I feel like Bernie showed a tinge of vulnerability tonight. I think Joe Biden had a very strong night.
[23:55:00]
YANG: I look for Joe to carry some momentum through South Carolina and to Super Tuesday.
MCINTOSH: I just think the next time that we have a debate, we will be on the other side of Super Tuesday. We will be in a completely different phase of this very, very long campaign. So I think this was an interesting night. I don't know how the candidates are going to do this weekend or next Tuesday. But I'm --
COOPER: After Super Tuesday, a number of these candidates will no longer --
MCINTOSH: Yeah, this is the last time we see this group of candidates on stage together. The next time they all get together, there will be fewer of them.
COOPER: Do you think some -- anybody would drop out between South Carolina and Super Tuesday?
MCINTOSH: I think if Tom Steyer does really poorly, he could be the one to exit the race.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Klobuchar as well.
MCINTOSH: Yeah.
COOPER: All right. Thanks to everybody. We'll be right back. More ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Our debate coverage continues. We are going to turn things over to Chris Cuomo. Chris?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Anderson, thank you very much. What an important night. I am Chris Cuomo. Welcome to a special midnight edition of "PRIME TIME." We are going to keep this going because the 2020 stakes keep getting higher and higher.
