The Vermont Senator will soon be going toe to toe with Donald Trump
There are no second prizes in presidential contests. No silver medals. No participation trophies.
There are, however, endless numbers of delusional candidates and campaigns who insist that they will sweep the later states, or take their delegates to the convention, or contest the legitimacy of the nomination process.
Continue reading...The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders won the caucuses in Nevada, solidifying his frontrunner status in the race for the Democratic nomination.
“We’ve brought together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition that is not only going to win Nevada, it’s going to sweep this country,” Sanders told supporters in San Antonio, Texas, after the Associated Press and several US networks projected his win.
Continue reading...Frontrunner condemns interference and says: ‘Unlike Trump, I do not consider Vladimir Putin a good friend. He is an autocratic thug’
US officials told Bernie Sanders that the Russian government is working to help him secure the Democratic nomination, the Washington Post reported Friday.
And new reports are emerging that Sanders knew a month ago about the interference. Asked why the news is only coming out now, Sanders pointed to the Nevada caucuses and suggested media was to blame.
Sanders tells reporters he learned about Russian interference in his campaign about a month ago.
But asked why it came out now, Sanders points to the fact that the NV caucuses are a day away. And adds sarcastically, "Washington Post? Good friends."
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Mario Koran, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
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It was another evening of late-breaking news. Here’s a summary as our live politics coverage ends for the night:
Elizabeth Warren is not done with her demans that Michael Bloomberg, billionaire former New York mayor and late entrant into the 2020 Democratic primary, release former employees who have brought lawsuits against Bloomberg and his company from their nondisclosure agreements.
The goal, Warren has said: allowing women to talk candidly about the behavior that prompted the lawsuits, and ensuring transparency in the primary.
Elizabeth Warren opens her CNN town hall by saying she brought something with her -- a contract she wrote up that she says would release former Bloomberg employees from NDAs.
"I used to teach contract law... All he has to do is sign it. I’ll text it."
Briefing to members of Congress is said to have led to abrupt removal of acting director of national intelligence
US intelligence officials are reported to have warned members of Congress last week that Russia was trying to interfere in the 2020 election campaign in favour of Donald Trump, in a briefing that led to the abrupt removal of the acting director of national intelligence.
When Trump heard about the briefing, he railed at the acting DNI, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office, over what the president saw as disloyalty, the Washington Post reported. Until then, Maguire had been a leading candidate to become permanent DNI and is understood to have told colleagues he expected to stay on in the position.
Continue reading...The Vermont senator was alone in saying he would back whoever won a plurality of delegates – with others open to superdelegates tipping the balance for another candidate at the convention
Amid the Mike Bloomberg pile-on and the Pete Buttigieg-Amy Klobuchar squabbling, there was a key point that slipped by almost unnoticed during Wednesday’s tumultuous Democratic debate – one that could potentially prevent Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee.
Towards the end, each of the six candidates was asked if – at the Democratic national convention this summer in Milwaukee – they would support the person who has won the most delegates – even if that person hasn’t achieved a majority.
Continue reading...Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg fiercely attacked Mike Bloomberg on his first Democratic debate appearance.
Senator Warren led the assault, challenging the former New York mayor to release women at his company from non-disclosure agreements they signed while settling lawsuits. Bloomberg defended his record, saying: 'In my company, lots and lots of women have big responsibilities.'
Here are the key clashes from the ninth Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas
Continue reading...The top six Democratic presidential candidates faced off in Las Vegas on Wednesday in the most combative debate of the election and days before the high-stakes caucuses in Nevada.
It was the first debate for Mike Bloomberg, and the former New York mayor’s rivals in the Democratic race for president immediately took aim – attacking him for his legacy on racist policing and reports of sexist comments and discrimination at his companies.
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The White House said that Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke over the phone yesterday.
“The two leaders discussed the importance of NATO, French and United States counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel, and other bilateral issues,” the readout says.
Bernie Sanders may also be asked about this during tonight’s debate: the Atlantic is reporting that the Vermont senator considered challenging Barack Obama for the 2012 Democratic nomination.
The Atlantic reports:
Bernie Sanders got so close to running a primary challenge to President Barack Obama that Senator Harry Reid had to intervene to stop him.
It took Reid two conversations over the summer of 2011 to get Sanders to scrap the idea, according to multiple people who remember the incident, which has not been previously reported.
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The good polling news for Michael Bloomberg just keeps on coming this morning.
A new poll from Oklahoma, which will also hold its primary on Super Tuesday, shows Bloomberg leading the field with 20%.
In addition to qualifying for the next Democratic debate, Michael Bloomberg also got some good news from a Virginia poll out this morning.
According to the Monmouth University survey, Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders are tied among likely voters in Virginia, which will hold its primary on Super Tuesday.
Continue reading...Some Democratic observers fear their party is following the British left’s road to defeat
British politics rarely intrudes into a US presidential election. In 1988, Joe Biden was forced to abandon his first bid for the White House after it emerged that he had quoted without attribution a chunk of oratory from the then Labour party leader, Neil Kinnock. In 2016, Donald Trump deployed Nigel Farage as an occasional mascot on the stump, the Brexit victory in that year’s referendum deemed a happy omen that populists could defy the odds and win. In 2020, a third name has surfaced, offered as a cautionary tale to a Democratic party that this week confirmed a septuagenarian radical socialist and longtime backbench rebel as its frontrunner. That name is Jeremy Corbyn.
“I don’t want the Democratic party of the United States to be the Labour party of the United Kingdom,” James Carville, the victorious manager of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, told audiences on cable TV and in New Hampshire this week, warning that if Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders, they will almost certainly be following Corbyn’s Labour party to defeat.
Continue reading...Queer activists were met with chants of ‘Boot-Edge-Edge’ after they disrupted a private fundraiser for Pete Buttigieg in San Francisco on Friday evening. The activists, escorted out of the event, reflected unease among the LBGTQ+ community over the Buttigieg campaign
Continue reading...Policy change involves what Facebook calls ‘branded content’, sponsored items posted by ordinary users who are typically paid by companies
Facebook decided on Friday to allow a type of paid political message that had sidestepped many of the social network’s rules governing political ads, in a reversal that highlights difficulties tech companies and regulators have in keeping up with the changing nature of paid political messages.
Facebook’s policy change comes days after the Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg exploited a loophole to run humorous messages promoting his campaign on the accounts of popular Instagram personalities followed by millions of younger people.
Continue reading...She placed third in Iowa and fourth in New Hampshire, but still touts herself as a candidate to excite liberals and please moderates
The votes in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary were still being counted when Elizabeth Warren took the stage at a sports center in Manchester to address her supporters.
Related: Controversy rages over Trump interference in Roger Stone case – live updates
Continue reading...Troy Price says he is ‘deeply sorry for what happened’ at derailed event, as results remain unclear
The chair of the Iowa Democratic party, who oversaw a chaotic caucus last week that still has not yielded final results, resigned from his position on Wednesday.
Troy Price, who has been the head of the state’s Democratic party since 2017, apologized for what had happened on caucus night.
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Trump: congratulations William Barr on following the order I tweeted to 72m people.
Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the Mueller Scam was improperly brought & tainted. Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress!
GOP Sen. John Kennedy said Trump’s tweets about Stone were “problematic” but he also told us he’s seen “no evidence” that Trump improperly interfered and thought it was simply lack of coordination on sentencing. He wouldn’t comment directly when I asked if Barr should testify
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday asked the inspector general of the justice department to investigate the Stone sentencing recommendation reversal.
This morning on the Senate floor, Schumer called on the chair of the judiciary committee, Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, to convene hearings on the matter. Graham, a staunch ally of the president who has lately been focused on the need to investigate Hunter Biden’s conduct in Ukraine, is not likely to do that.
The president ran against the swamp in Washington, a place that is rigged by the powerful to benefit them personally. I ask my fellow Americans, what is more swampy, what is more fetid, what is more stinking than the most powerful person in the country literally changing the rules to benefit a crony guilty of breaking the law?”
NEW: Chuck Schumer calls on Lindsey Graham "to convene an emergency hearing...to conduct oversight and hold hearings" following DOJ reversal on Stone sentencing recommendation.
"That's the the job of the Judiciary Committee, no matter who's president." https://t.co/xDonmgJTd0 pic.twitter.com/Bwx57FoFez
The Vermont senator claimed a ‘great victory’ on Tuesday night – but he was trailed closely by a pair of midwestern moderates
After the Iowa caucuses failed to produce a clear winner last week, the results of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night helped crystalize the presidential primary - only insomuch as it appears to be a fiercely contested battle between Bernie Sanders and any candidate who can stop him.
From a sports arena in Manchester on Tuesday night, the Vermont senator and self-declared democratic socialist claimed “a great victory” and declared the “beginning of the end of Donald Trump”, while his rivals sought to convince Democrats nervous about a Sanders nomination that they were the most viable alternative.
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Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who has signaled in recent days that the future of his candidacy depends on the results in New Hampshire, thanked his supporters as most of the state’s polls closed.
I am so proud of this campaign. Thank you to everyone who got us here.
It is 7 pm ET, so most New Hampshire polls have now closed, although a few polling locations will remain open for another hour.
Depending on the results, it could be a relatively early night -- especially in comparison to the days-long debacle that was the reporting of results for the Iowa caucuses.
Continue reading...A day ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders remain on a collision course.
Related: Sheldon Adelson to donate $100m to Trump and Republicans, fundraisers say
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The rallies still rage in New Hampshire tonight, but that’s it from us. Stay tuned for more news from our stellar politics team, who will have updates.
At the Trump rally in Manchester, a familiar chant has appeared to have turned on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
New Hampshire crowd chants "Lock her up!" after President Trump alluded to Nancy Pelosi "mumbling terribly behind me" during the State of the Union.
"There was a little anger back there," he said. "We're the ones who should be angry, not them." https://t.co/2OrQPtHreq pic.twitter.com/TkKtm2MxgM