Democratic debate: Warren brands Bloomberg ‘a billionaire who calls people fat broads’ – live | US news

This has been a lively one.

Amy Klobuchar, who forgot the name of Mexico’s president in an interview with Univision, said it was a momentary lapse.

When Buttigieg pushed back, she responded: “Are you calling me dumb? Are you mocking me?”

Buttigieg was the one candidate who correctly named Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the interview; Klobucgar and Tom Steyer (who is not on stage tonight) couldn’t remember. Mayor Pete’s campaign has been promoting the interview in campaig emails to supporters.

Warren is drilling down on Bloomberg, and the fact that he won’t released women from confidentiality agreements they signed relating to allegations of a hostile work environment at his company. She drew more parallels between Bloomberg and Donald Trump, who has brushed off a litany of sexual harassment accusations.

Now Bloomberg is addressing his part comments on women, and allegations that he fostered a sexist work environment at his company Bloomberg LP.

Bloomberg had a testy response. He said he takes the Me Too movement seriously and when someone makes sexist or discriminatory comments at his company, “we investigate it. And if it’s inappropriate, they’re gone that day,” he said.

Elizabeth Warren is pursuing a very new strategy tonight: attack everyone in sight. Here’s how she ripped through the healthcare plans of her rivals earlier in tonight’s debate:

Echoing Donald Trump’s excuses for not releasing his tax returns, Mike Bloomberg said it “takes time”. “I can’t go to Turbo Tax,” he said. The multibillionaire has said he will release his returns “in a few weeks”.

“Transparency matters, especially in the Trump era,” Pete Buttigieg said, referring to Bernie Sanders’ reluctance to release detailed health records. Buttigieg, 38, said he’s happy to get a physical and release the results — drawing chuckles and groans from the crowd.

Sanders pivoted back to his healthcare plan, contrasting his Medicare for All proposal with Pete Buttigieg’s “Medicare for those who want it” which Sanders described as “status quo”.

Bloomberg addressed his stop-and-frisk policy: “I thought my first responsibility was to give people the right to live,” he said, but “it got out of control”.

“I’ve sat, I’ve apologized, I’ve asked for forgiveness,” Bloomberg said. “We stopped too many people.”

He added: “If we took everybody that was wrong” on criminal justice, “there would be nobody up here.”

That explanation wasn’t enough for Warren, who once again leaped in. “This really is about leadership and accountability,” she said. The policy was racist in its conception, she added. “It targeted communities of color; it targeted black and brown men from the beginning.”

Bloomberg’s first jab: “Let me finish,” he said as Biden tried to cut in as the former New York mayor criticized the hallmark healthcare legislation of the Obama/Biden administration. Overall, Bloomberg has been less fiery than his opponents.

Amy Klobuchar’s very on-brand response to Warren: “Post-it notes were invented in my state”. Warren’s critique of her moderate rival is relentless. “Amy, I’ve seen your plan” she said, describing it as “two paragraphs”.

“Families are suffering. You can’t simply stand here and trash an idea to give healthcare coverage to everyone without having a realistic plan of your own,” Warren said.

Elizabeth Warren, whose voice is hoarse as she is fighting off a cold, is coming across stong. She attacked her opponents’ healthcare plans. Buttigieg’s plan is a mere “PowerPoint” she said. “Amy’s plan is even less; it’s a post-it note.”

And while Sanders’ plan is “good start”, but “his campaign relentlessly attacks everyone who asks a question” about it she said. “His own advisors say ‘Eh, probably won’t happen anyway.’”