CNN Finds Audio Of Tense Post-Debate Exchange Between Elizabeth Warren And Bernie Sanders

Ted Johnson

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CNN discovered an audio recording of a tense, post-debate exchange between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in which both candidates accuse each other of lying.

Each of the candidates was still on stage as cameras caught what looked to be an argument.

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“I think you called me a liar on national TV,” Warren said to Sanders.

He apparently did not hear her, and she repeated, “I think you called me a liar on national TV.”

“You know, let’s not do it right now. If you want to have that discussion, we’ll have that discussion,” Sanders said.

“Anytime,” Warren replied.

Sanders then said, “You called me a liar.” “You told me… All right, let’s not do it now.”

The audio ends a day of speculation over what exactly was said between the two candidates. Up to then, CNN and other news outlets were left guessing after cameras caught the candidates on stage, with Tom Steyer looking on. Warren appeared to rebuff an attempt by Sanders to shake his hand, and Sanders used hand gestures before turning away.

In interviews, Steyer said that he didn’t hear what Sanders and Warren were saying to each other.

Also intriguing was how the audio of the exchange was found. The network, which sponsored the debate along with The Des Moines Register, did an inventory of the equipment used at the event and “found two backup recordings from the microphones Sanders and Warren were wearing,” CNN reported.

The audio offers a rare glimpse at what gets said immediately after the debate, but it confirms the tension between the two candidates over what was a major controversy going into the event. On Monday, CNN reported that at a 2018 meeting, Sanders told Warren that he did not think a woman could win the presidency this year. In a statement to CNN and at the debate, Sanders denied saying it. Warren, though, implicitly confirmed it when she said that she “disagreed” with what Sanders had said.

 

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