[ applause ] live from drake university in iowa, this is the cnn democratic presidential debate in partnership with the "des moines register." we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer along with cnn's abby phillip and "the des moines register's" chief politics reporter, breann fonensteel. >> the top six democratic contenders are in place. the iowa caucuses are 20 days away. >> before we begin, a reminder of the ground rules. you'll each receive 75 seconds

to answer questions, 45 seconds for responses and rebuttals, and 15 seconds for clarifications. please refrain from interrupting your fellow candidates as that will count against your time. >> all right. so let's begin right now. just this month, the united states and iran were on the brink of war, which has reignited the debate over america's role in the world. and which of you is best prepared to be commander in chief? so let's have the debate right now. senator sanders, why are you best prepared -- the best prepared person on this stage to be commander in chief? >> yes, i think my record speaks to that, wolf. in 2002, when the congress was debating whether or not we go into a war in iraq, invade iraq, i got up on the floor of the house and i said that would be a disaster. it would lead to unprecedented levels of chaos in the region. and i not only voted against the

war, i helped lead the effort against that war. just last year, i helped for the first time in the modern history of this country pass a war powers act resolution working with a conservative republican, mike lee of utah, which said that the war in yemen led by saudi arabia was unconstitutional, because congress had not authorized it. we got a majority vote in the senate, we got a majority vote in the house. unfortunately, bush vetoed that and that horrific war continues. i am able to work with republicans, i am able to bring people together. to try to create a world where we solve conflicts over the negotiating table, not through military efforts. >> vice president biden, you talk a lot about your experience, but some of your competitors have taken issue with that experience, questioning your judgment in voting to authorize the iraq

war. why are you the best-prepared person on this stage to be commander in chief? >> i said 13 years ago it was a mistake to give the president the authority to go to war if, in fact, he couldn't get inspectors into iraq to stop what was thought to be the attempt to get a nuclear weapon. it was a mistake. and i acknowledged that. but right -- the man who also argued against that war, barack obama, picked me to be his vice president. and once we were elected president, he turned -- and vice president, he turned to me and asked me to end that war. i know what it's like to send a son or daughter like our colleague has gone to war in afghanistan, my son for a year in iraq, and that's why i do it very, very reluctantly. that's why i led the effort, as you know, wolf, against surging tens of thousands of troops into afghanistan. we should not send anyone anywhere unless the overwhelming vital interests of the united states are at stake. they were not at stake there,

they were not at stake in iraq. and it was a mistaken vote. but i think my record overall on everything everything we've done has been -- i'm prepared to compare it to anybody's on this stage. >> senator sanders, you have been attacking vice president biden's vote on the iraq war, but you recently acknowledged that your vote to authorize the war in afghanistan was also a mistake. so you both have acknowledged mistakes. why should the american people trust your judgment more? >> well, it's a little bit of a difference. on that particular vote, every single member of the house including myself voted for it. only barbara lee voted against it. but what i understand right away, in terms of the war in iraq, the difference here is that the war in iraq turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country. as joe well knows, we lost 4,500 brave troops, hundreds of thousands of iraqis died. we have spent trillions of dollars on that endless war,

money which should go into health care and education and infrastructure in this country. joe and i listened to what dick cheney and george bush and rumsfeld had to say. i thought they were lying. i didn't believe them for a moment. i took to the floor. i did everything i could to prevent that war. joe saw it differently. >> vice president biden? >> i was asked to bring 156,000 troops home from that war, which i did. i led thaeft effort. it was a mistake to trust that they were not going to go to war. they said they were not going to go to war. they said they were just going to get inspectors in. the world, in fact, voted to send inspectors in and they still went to war. from that point on, i was in the position of making the case that it was a big, big mistake. and from that point on, i've voted to -- i've moved to bring those troops home. >> senator klobuchar, you've publicly questioned mayor buttigieg's experience when it comes to being commander in chief. why is your time as a u.s.

senator more valuable than his time as a u.s. naval intelligence officer in afghanistan and as mayor? >> thank you, wolf. and i have been very clear that i respect the mayor's experience very much in the military. i just have different experience. i've been in the u.s. senate for over 12 years. and i think what you want in a president is someone who has dealt with these life-and-death issues and who has made decisions. i will look at my position on the iraq war first. i wasn't in the senate for that vote, but i opposed that war from the very beginning. in my first campaign for senate, i ran against a republican who ran ads against me on it, but i stood my ground. when i got to the senate, i pushed to bring our troops home. then i have dealt with every issue from afghanistan to keeping our troops with good health care after what we saw with walter reed and being part of an effort to improve the situation for our troops in a very big way with our education

and with their jobs and also with their health care. i think right now what we should be talking about, though, wolf, is what is happening right now with donald trump. donald trump is taking us pelmel toward another war. we have a very important resolution. we just found out today that four republicans are joining democrats to go to him and say, you must have an authorization of military force if you're going to go to war with iran. that is so important because we have a situation where he got us out of the iranian nuclear agreement, something i worked on for a significant period of time. as president, i will get us back into that agreement. i will take an oath -- >> thank you. >> -- to protect and defend our constitution. >> thank you. >> and i will mean it. >> thank you, senator klobuchar. we're going to continue talking about who's best prepared to be commander in chief. mayor buttigieg ? >> well, i bring a different perspective. there are enlisted people that i serve with, barely old enough to remember those votes on the

authorization after 9/11, on the war in iraq. and there are people now old enough to enlist who were not alive for some of those debates. the next president is going to be confronted with national security challenges different in scope and in kind from anything we've seen before. not just conventional military challenges, not just stateless terrorism, but cybersecurity challenges, climate security challenges, foreign interference in our elections. it's going to take a view to the future, as well as the readiness to learn from the lessons of the past and for me, those lessons of the past are personal. >> senator warren, in our new cnn/"des moines register" poll, almost a third of your supporters say your ability to lead the military is more of a weakness than a strength of yours. why are you best prepared to be commander in chief? >> i believe the principle job of the commander in chief is to keep america safe.

and i think that's about judgment. i think it starts with knowing our military. i've sat on the senate armed services committee, i've worked with our generals, with our military leaders, with our intelligence, but i also visit our troops. i visit our troops around the world, i've been to afghanistan, to iraq, to jordan, to south korea, i've been to lots of places to visit with our troops. and i fight for our troops, to make sure they get their pay and the housing and medical benefits that they've been promised, that they don't get cheated by giant financial institutions. you know, i have three brothers who are in the military and i know how much our military families sacrifice, but i also know that we have to think about our defense in very different ways. we have to think about cyber, we have to think about climate, we also have to think about how we spend money. we have a problem with a revolving door in washington between the defense industry and the department of defense and the pentagon. that is corruption, pure and simple. we need to block that revolving

door and we need to cut our defense budget. we need to depend on all of our tools. diplomatic, economic, working with our allies, and not let the defense industry call the shots. >> mr. steyer, you worked in finance for decades and have never held elected office. why should voters believe you have the experience or judgment to serve as commander in chief? >> i worked internationally around the world for decades. i traveled, i met with governments, i met with businesses, and i understand how america interacts with other countries. and you asked why the experience really counts, and senator warren made a great point, it's not so much about experience, it's about judgment. if you've been listening to this, what we are hearing is 20 years of mistakes about the american government in the middle east. of failure, of mistakes. the real question is judgment.

and if you look who had the judgment, it was a state senator from illinois with no experience named barack obama who opposed the war. it is a congresswoman, barbara lee from oakland, california, who stood up against the original vote, who is the only person in congress. so i would say to this you this. an outside perspective, looking at this and actually dealing with the problems as they are is what we're looking for now. i agree with senator warren. we are spending dramatically too much money on defense. the money that we're spending there, we could spend in the other parts of the budget, and it's time for someone from the outside to have a strategic view about what we're trying to do and how to do it. >> senator sanders, in the wake of the iran crisis, iran's ayatollatoe la khomeini has called for troops to leave iraq.

how would you prevent that from happening again? >> let me tell you. but before i tell you that, let me tell you something else. that is, i don't know if my colleagues will agree with me or not, maybe they will. but what we have to face as a nation is that the two great foreign policy disasters of our lifetimes, with the war in vietnam and the war in iraq. both of those wars were based on lies. and right now, what i fear very much is we have a president who is lying again and could drag us into a war that is even worse than the war in iraq. to answer your question, what we need to do is have an international coalition. we cannot keep acting unilate l unilaterally. as you know, the nuclear deal with iran was worked on with a

number of our allies. we have got to undo what trump did, bring that coalition together, and make sure that iran never gets a nuclear weapon. >> vice president biden? >> i was part of that deal to get the nuclear agreement with iran, bringing together the rest of the world, including some of the folks who aren't friendly to us. and it was working. it was working, it was being held tightly. there was no movement on the part of the iranian government to get closer to nuclear weapon. and look what's happened. he went ahead and it was predictable from the day he pulled out of the agreement, trump, what exactly would happen. we're now isolated. we're in a situation where our allies in europe are making a comparison between the united states and iran, saying both ought to stand down, making a moral equivalence. we have lost our standing in the region. we have lost the support of our allies. the next president has to be able to pull those folks back together, re-establish our

alliances and insist that iran go back into the agreement, which i believe with the pressure applied as we put on before, we can get done. >> so just to be clear, vice president biden, would you leave troops in the middle east or would you pull them out? >> i would leave troops in the middle east in terms of patrolling the gulf, where we have -- where we are now, small numbers of troops, and i think it's a mistake to pull out the small number of troops that are there now to deal with isis. what's happened is, now that he's gone ahead, the president and started this whole process moving, what's happening? we -- isis is going to reconstitute itself. we're in a position where we have to pull our forces out. americans have to leave the entire region. and quite frankly, i think he's flat-out lied about saying that the reason he went after -- the reason he made the strike was because our embassies were about to be bombed. >> senator klobuchar, what's your response? >> i would leave some troops there, but not in the level that donald trump is taking us right

now. afghanistan, i have long wanted to bring our troops home. i would do that. some would remain for krou counterterrorism and training. in syria, i would not have removed the 150 troops from the border with turkey. i think that was a mistake. i think it made our allies and many others much more vulnerable to isis. and then when it comes to iraq, right now, i would leave our troops there, despite the mess that has been created by donald trump. at the briefing we had last week, i was the only person on this stage that asked a question of both the secretary of defense and the secretary of state. and i asked him about imminent threat, but i also asked them what their alternatives were. and they gave very vague, vague answers. i asked them, where is the surge of diplomacy that we would be seeing if i was president? and i asked them where they were going to leave the iraqi people. time and time again, you see that this president puts his own interests, his private interests in front of our country's. i would put our country's

interests first as commander in chief. >> senator warren, leave combat troops, at least some combat troops in the middle east or bring them home? >> no, i think we need to get our combat troops out. you know, we have to stop this mind-set that we can do everything with combat troops. our military is the finest military on earth. and they will take any sacrifice we ask them to take. but we should stop asking our military to solve problems that cannot be solved militarily. our keeping combat troops there is not helping. we immediate to work with our allies. we need to use our economic tools. we feed to use our diplomatic tools. now, look, i understand, there are people on this stage, when it comes to afghanistan, for example, who talk about five more years, ten more years. shoot, lindsey graham talks about leaving troops there for a hundred more years. no one has a solution and an end point. we need to get our combat troops out. they are not helping create more

safety for the united states or the region. >> vice president biden, is senator warren right? >> well, i tell you what, there's a difference between combat troops and leaving special forces in a position. i was part of the coalition to put together 68 countries to deal with stateless terror as well as failed states. not us alone, 68 other countries. that's how we were able to defeat and end the fight for isis. they'll come back if we do not deal with them and we do not have someone who can bring together the rest of the world to go with us, with small numbers of special forces we have to organize the effort to take them down. >> mayor buttigieg, you served in afghanistan, who's right? >> we can continue to remain engaged without having an endless commitment of ground troops. but what's going on right now is the president's actually sending more. the very president who said he was going to end endless war, who pretended to have been against the war in iraq all along, although we know that's not true, now has more troops going to the middle east.

and whenever i see that happen, i think about the day we shipped out. and the time that was set aside for saying good-bye to family members. i remember walking with a friend of mine, another lieutenant i trained with, as we walked away and his 1 1/2-year-old boy was toddling after him, not understanding why his father wasn't turning back to scoop him up. and it took all the strength he had not to turn around and look at his boy one more time. that is happening by the thousands right now, as we see so many more troops sent into harm's way. and my perspective is to ensure that that will never happen when there is an alternative as commander in chief. >> senator sanders? >> wolf, in america today, our infrastructure is crumbling. half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. 87 million people have no health care or are uninsured or underinsured. we have 500,000 people sleeping out on the streets tonight. the american people are sick and

tired of endless wars which have cost us trillions of dollars. our job is to rebuild the united nations, rebuild the state department, make sure that we have the capability of bringing the world together to resolve international conflict diplomatically, and stop the endless wars that we have experienced. >> we're going to get to everyone, but vice president biden, you criticized president trump's decision to kill the iranian general soleimani without first going to congress. are there any circumstances, other than a direct attack on the united states, where you would take military action without congressional approval? >> i ran the first time as a 29-year-old kid against the war in vietnam, only way to take a nation to war was with informed consent of the american people. the informed consent of the american people. and with regard to this idea that we can walk away and not have any troops anywhere, including special forces, we -- there's no way you negotiate or

are able to negotiate with terrorists. you have to be able to form coalitions to be able to defeat them or contain them. if you don't, weapon end up being the world's policeman again. they're going to come to us. they've come to us before. they'll come to us again. so it's a fundamental difference than negotiating with other countries. it's fundamentally the requirement that we use our special forces in small numbers to coordinate with other countries to bring together coalitions. >> mr. vice president, just to be clear, the obama/biden administration did not ask congress for permission multiple times when it took military action. so would the biden doctrine be different? >> no, the authorization for the use of military force that was passed by the united states congress, house, and senate and signed by the president. that was the authority. does not give authority to go into iran. it gave authority to deal with these other issues. >> mayor buttigieg? >> that authorization needs to be replaced. >> exactly. and we tried that. >> when we lost troops in niger,

there were members of congress who admitted they didn't even know we had troops there. and it was all pursuant to an authorization that was passed to deal with al qaeda and 9/11. and often, congress has been all too happy to leave aside its role. now, thanks to democrats in congress, that's changing. but the reality is, year after year, congress didn't want to touch this either, because it was so politically difficult. fundamental truth is, if our troops can summon the courage to go overseas into harm's way, often on deployment after deployment, then we've got to make sure that congress has the courage to take tough up or down votes on whether they ought to be there. and when i am president, anytime -- which i hope will never happen -- but anytime i am compelled to use force and seek that authorization, we will have a three-year sunset, so that the american people are included, in the hospital only in the decision about whether to send troops, but whether to continue. >> thank you. senator warren, we're going to get to everyone, but senator warren, what about you? are there any circumstances,

other than a direct attack on the united states, where you would take military action without congressional approval? >> well, imminent threat, but we need an authorization for the use of military force before we take this nation into combat. that is what the constitution provides and that is what as commander in chief i will do. but i want to be clear. everyone on this stage talks about, nobody wants endless war. but the question is, when and how do you plan to get out of it? you know, on the senate armed services committee, we have one general after another in afghanistan who comes in and says, you know, we've just turned the corner. and now it's all going to be different. and then what happens? it's all the same for another year. someone new comes in and we've just turned the corner. we've turned the corner so many times, we're going in circles in these regions. this has got to stop. it's not enough to say some day, we're going to get out. no one on the ground, none of our military can describe what the conditions are for getting out.

it's time to get our combat troops home. >> mr. steyer, would a president steyer use military force as a deterrent? and if not, under what circumstances would you take military action? >> i would take military action to protect the lives and safety of american citizens? but what we can see in the middle east and what this conversation shows is that there is no real strategy that we're trying to accomplish in what we're doing in the middle east. obviously, mr. trump has no strategy. he is going from crisis to crisis, from escalation to escalation. but if you look further over the last 20 years, including in the war in afghanistan, we know from "the washington post" that, in fact, there was no strategy. there was just a series of tactical decisions that made no sense. so we really have to ask ourself in the middle east, what are we trying to accomplish? i agree with vice president biden. to do it, we should definitely be doing it in coalition with other countries. and i want to point out that as we do that, we're confronted by

this issue which everyone is talking about. but at the same time, there's a gigantic climate issue in australia, which also requires the same kind of value-driven coalition building that we actually should be using in the middle east. we need to ask ourselves, how are we going to provide a world that is safer for americans, where we can prosper more, and every single thing we should do should follow into that strategy. and it's just not happening in washington, d.c. >> mayor buttigieg, another critical issue you'd face as president is the threat of nuclear weapons. last week, president trump said, quote, as long as i am president of the united states, iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. would a president buttigieg make that same promise? >> ensuring that iran does not develop nuclear weapons will, of course, be a priority, because it's such an important part of keeping america safe. but unfortunately, president trump has made it much harder for the next president to achieve that goal.

by gutting the iran nuclear deal, one that, by the way, the trump administration itself admitted was working, certified that it was preventing progress towards a nuclear iran, by gutting that, they have made the region more dangerous and set off the chain of events that we are now dealing with as it escalates even closer to the brink of outright war. now -- yes? >> continue. >> in order to get that done, we've got to work with our partners. the iran nuclear deal, the technical term for it was the jcpoa. that first letter "j" stood for joint. we can't do this alone. even less so now after everything that has happened. which is why it will so critically important to engage leaders, including a lot of new leaders emerging around the world and ensure that we have the alliances we need to meet what i believe is not just an american goal, but a widely shared goal around the world to ensure that iran does not become a nuclear armed country. >> mayor buttigieg, to be clear,

would you allow iran to become a nuclear power? yes or no? >> no. our security depends on ensuring that iran does not become nuclear. and by the way, we've got a lot of other challenges with nuclear proliferation around the world. despite this president's coziness with vladimir putin, we actually seem to be further away from being able to work with russia on things like the renewal of start. we've got to move towards less, not more nuclear danger. whether it is from states, from stateless potential actors or anywhere else around the world. >> thank you, mayor buttigieg. senator klobuchar, if you become president, it's very likely there won't be an iran nuclear deal for the united states to rejoin. given that, how would you prevent iran from becoming a nuclear weapon? >> i would start negotiations again, and i won't take that as a given that our european partners are still trying to hold the agreement together. because of the actions of donald

trump, we are in a situation where they are now starting -- iran is starting to enrich uranium again, in violation of the original agreement. so what i would do is negotiate. i would bring people together, just as president obama did years ago, and i think that we can get this done. but you have to have a president that sees this as a number one goal. and in answer to the original question you asked the mayor, i would not allow iran to have a nuclear weapon. and then you have to get an agreement in place. i think there are changes you can make to the agreement that are sunset, some changes to the inspections, but overall, that is what we should do. and i am the one person on this debate stage, on the first night of the very first debate, when we were asked what we saw as the biggest threat to our world, i said, china on the economy, but i said, iran, because of donald trump. because i feared exactly what

happened would happen. escalation of tensions, leaving frayed relations with our allies. we can bring them back. understanding this is a terrorist regime that we cannot allow to have a nuclear weapon. >> vice president biden, i want to ask you about north korea. president trump has met with kim jong-un three times. president obama once said he would meet with north korea without any preconditions. would you meet with north korea without any preconditions? >> no. not now. i wouldn't meet with them without any preconditions. look, we gave him everything he's looking for. legitimacy. the president showed up, met with him, gave him legitimacy, weakened the sanctions we have against him. i would be putting what i did as vice president, i met with xi jinping more than anyone else. i would be putting pressure on china to put pressure on korea, to cease and desist from their nuclear power. their efforts to deal with nuclear weapons. i would move forward as we did before and you reported extensively, wolf, about moving forward the whole notion of

defense against nuclear weapons, that we would -- and when china said to me, when xi jinping said to me, that's a threat to us, i said, we're going to move and protect our interests unless you get involved and protect it. i would reignite the relationship between japan and south korea and i would put enormous pressure, enormous pressure on china. because it's also in their interests for them to put pressure on north korea to cease and desist. but i would not, i would not meet with -- absent preconditions, i would not meet with the, quote, supreme leader, who said joe biden is a rabid dog, he should be beaten to death with a stick. >> other than that, you like him? >> other than that, i like him, and he got a love letter from trump right after that. >> mr. steyer, would you meet with north korea without any preconditions? >> no. it's -- it's very clear that if we're going to do something with north korea, we're going to have to do it in concert with our allies. that meeting with him without

preconditions is not going anywhere. that the staff can meet to try and see how far we can get. but this is a classic situation where the united states idea of going it alone makes no sense. and when you are talking about iran, let's face it. iran is under great pressure economically. so every single discussion we've had about iran has had to do with military power and america versus iran. whereas, in fact, what worked with president obama was an alliance of our allies and us putting economic pressure on them for them to give up their military tactic. that, to me, is called strategy. having a goal to make america safer, by looking more broadly -- >> thank you. >> -- than just us, as the policeman of the world spending money. >> thank you, mr. steyer. let's stay with the theme of america's role in the world and talk about trade. tomorrow, president trump is expected to sign phase i of a trade agreement with china. and the senate will likely soon approve a new trade deal with

mexico and canada, iowa's largest trading partners. senator sanders, you have said that new deal, the usmca, quote, makes some modest improvements, yet you are going to vote against it. aren't modest improvements better than no improvements for the farmers and manufacturers who have been devastated here in iowa? >> the answer is we can do much better than a trump-led trade deal. this deal, and i think the proponents of it acknowledge, will result in the continuation of the loss of hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs as a result of outsourcing. the heart and soul of our disaster trade agreements, and i'm the guy who voted against nafta and against permanent normal trade relations with china, is that we have forced american workers to compete against people in mexico, in china, elsewhere, who earn starvation wages. $1 or $2 an hour. second of all, every major environmental organization has said "no" to this new trade

agreement because it does not even have the phrase "climate change" in it. and given the fact that climate change is right now the greatest threat facing this planet, i will not vote for a trade agreement that does not incorporate very, very strong principles to significantly lower fossil fuel emissions in the world. >> but senator sanders, to be clear, the afl-cio supports this deal. are you unwilling to compromise? >> the afl-cio does. the machinist union does not. and every environmental organization in this country, including the sunrise organization, who is supporting my candidacy, opposes it. so i happen to believe, and i hope we will talk about climate change in a moment. if we do not get our act together in terms of climate change, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren will be increasingly unlivable and --

>> we're going to get to climate change, but i would like to stay on trade. >> well, they are the same in this issue. >> senator warren, you support the usmca. why is senator sanders wrong? >> i do. i wasn't here. i've been in congress long enough to have voted against nafta, but i led the fight against the trade deal with asia and the trade deal with europe, because i didn't think it was in the interests of the american peopl people, the american workers or environmental interests. but we have farmers here in iowa who are hurting. and they are hurting because of donald trump's initiated trade wars. we have workers who are hurting because the agreements that have already been cut really don't have enforcement on workers' rights. this new trade deal is a modest improvement. senator sanders himself has said so. it will give some relief to our farmers, it will give some relief to our workers. i believe we accept that relief, we try to help the people who need help, and we get up the next day and fight for a better trade deal. we need a coherent trade policy.

we need a policy that actually helps our workers, our farmers. we need them at the table, not just to trade policy written for big, international companies. i'm ready to have that fight, but let's help the people who need help. >> senator sanders, can you please respond to senator warren? >> well, i think that it is not so easy to put together new trade legislation. if this is passed, i think it will set us back a number of years. senator warren is right in saying we immediate to bring the stakeholders to the table. that is the family farmers here in iowa and in vermont and around the country. that is the environmental community. that is the workers. bottom line here is, i am sick and tired of trade agreements negotiated by the ceos of large corporations -- >> senator klobuchar, i would like to bring you in here. >> i want to hit reality here. i serve on the agriculture

committee, and i will never forget going to crawfordsville here in iowa, and i went to this plant and there was one worker left in that plant. that plant had been shut down because of donald trump's trade policies and what he had done with those workers in giving secret waivers to oil companies and ruining the renewable standard. he brought out a coat rack of uniforms and said, these are my friends, they don't work anymore, their names were embroidered on those uniforms, david, mark, salvador, and that guy started to cry. these are real people hurt by donald trump's trade deal. what we should do, and i support the usmca, i'm glad that these improvements were made that are supported by people like richard trumpka and sherrod brown on labor and environment and on pharma, the sweetheart deal -- >> thank you. >> -- i think we need a big trade block with north america -- >> senator klobuchar, your time is up. >> -- with our allies.

>> mayor buttigieg, do you support the usmca, yes or no? >> yes, it has been improved, it is not perfect. but when you sit down with the people who are most impacted, they share just how much harm has been done to them by things like the trade war and just how much we can benefit, american consumers and workers and farmers by making sure we have the right kind of labor and enforceability as democrats ensured we got in this usmca. but let's acknowledge why there is such fear and frustration. my part of the country, in the industrial midwest, i remember, when they came around in the '90s, selling trade deals, telling us, don't worry about your slice of the pie. the pie will get so much bigger that everyone will be better off. and that promise was broken. the part about the pie getting bigger happened. it's just that the part about it getting to most people where i live did not. that is why there is such frustration. the sense that these decisions in board rooms -- >> thank you. >> -- and in committee rooms in

washington are being made not based on what's best for us -- >> thank you, mayor buttigieg. >> -- but based on their own game. >> vice president biden, senator sanders has said that donald trump will, quote, eat your lunch for voting "yes" on what he calls terrible trade agreements. when it comes to trade, why are you the best candidate to take on president trump? >> there will be no trade agreements signed in my administration without environmentalists and labor at the table. and there will be no trade agreement until we invest more in american workers. we should be putting our money and our effort and our time and preparing american workers to compete in the 21st century on the high-tech side, dealing with all artificial intelligence. we should be focusing on equipping american workers to do that. and by the way, the idea -- i don't know that there's any trade agreement that the senator would ever think made any sense, but the problem is that 95% of the customers are out there. so we better figure out how we begin to write the rules of the road, not china.

>> senator sanders? >> joe and i have a fundamental disagreement here. in case you haven't noticed. and that is nafta, pntr with china, other trade agreements were written for one reason alone. and that is to increase the profits of large multi-national corporations. and the end result of those two, just pntr with china, joe, and nafta, cost us some 4 million jobs, as part of the race to the bottom. i am sick and tired and will not tolerate. and we will use the power of the federal contracting system. if a corporation in america wants to shut down in iowa or vermont or any place else, and then they think they're going to get online for our generous federal contract, they've got another thing going. we need some corporate responsibility here and we need to protect good-paying jobs in america, not see them go to china, mexico, vietnam, and all

these other countries. >> mr. vice president, what's your response? >> we need corporate responsibility and i agree with that completely. but we also need to have enforcement mechanisms in the agreements we make. enforceable agreements. that's one of the things that has been improved with the trade agreement with mexico and that's what we should be doing in any agreement we have. but let's get back to the basics here. if we don't set the rules of the road by going out to our partners, instead of poking our eye -- excuse me, poking our finger in the eye of all of our friends and allies, we make up 25% of the world's economy. we've got to bring the other 25% of our allies along with us to set the rules of the road, so china cannot continue to abuse their power by stealing our intellectual property and doing all the other things, using their corporate state system to our significant disadvantage. >> senator warren? >> you know, our problem is not just that we need corporate responsibility. it's been a structure of how these trade deals have been

negotiated. the united states has had this strategy for decades. and that strategy has been to have government trade negotiators, a small number, and then surround them with giant multi-national corporation lobbyists and corporate executives, who whisper in the ears of our negotiators and then get deals cut that are great for the giant multi-national corporations, not good for america, not good for american workers, not good for the environment. we need a different approach to trade and it starts by calling out the corruption of these giant corporations that have cut our trade deals. everybody wants to get to the american market. and we need to put some standards in place. you want to be able to sell your goods here, then you've got to meet some environmental standards. you've got to meet labor standards. >> thank you, senator warren. i would like to bring in mr. steyer here. mr. steyer, even though farmers and manufacturers here in iowa and around the country could see some relief from the china deal, they've been crushed by the current administration's trade war. what will you do as president to

help them get back on their feet? >> look. on the first day, i would undo mr. trump's tariffs. on the first day, i would get rid of his waivers that senator klobuchar was referring to to oil refiners, not having to use corn-based ethanol. in fact, these trade deals have been exactly what senator sanders and warren have been saying, which is that they've been designed to grow the american gdp for the corporations of america, not for the working people of america, and not to protect the climate. so let me say this. i'm the only person on this stage who says climate is my number one priority. i would not sign this deal, because if climate is your number one priority, you can't sign a deal, even if it's marginally better for working people until climate is also taken into consideration. look, i've got four kids between the ages of 26 and 31. i cannot allow this country to

go down the path of climate destruction. everybody in their generation knows it. frankly, mayor buttigieg, you're their generation. i think you would be standing up more -- look, that's why i'm standing up for it. we cannot put climate on the backseat all the time and say we're going to sign this one more deal, we're going to do one more thing without putting climate first. that's why it's my number one priority. we can do it in a way that makes us richer, but we have to do it. >> mayor buttigieg, your response? >> well, that's right. this issue is personal for me. it's why we're going to tackle climate from day one. it's why we've got to make sure that we have better answers than we do today. now, what i've noticed is, pretty much all of us propose that we move on from fossil fuels by the middle of the century, starting with actions that we take right now. the question is, how are we going to make sure any of this actually gets done? because people have been saying the right things in these debates for literally decades. the other day in winterset, there was a kid at one of my

events, raised his hand and he pointed out that he expects to be here in his 90s in the year 2100. he will sit in judgment over what we do. not just what we on this stage do. anyone old enough to vote right now, whether we actually put together the national project it will require to meet our climate goals, to act aggressively. not just re-joining the paris climate accord, that's table stakes, but to actually move on from the fossil-dependent economy we live in today. >> let's now turn to -- let's now turn to an issue that's come up in the last 48 hours. senator sanders, cnn reported yesterday, and senator sanders -- senator warren confirmed in a statement -- that in 2018, you told their you did not believe that woman could win the election. why did you say that? >> well, as a matter of fact, i didn't say it. and i don't want to waste a whole lot of time on this, because this is what donald trump and maybe some of the

media want. anybody knows me knows that it's incomprehensible that i would think that a woman cannot be president of the united states. go to youtube today. there's a video of me 30 years ago talking about how a woman could become president of the united states. in 2015, i deferred, in fact, to senator warren. it was a movement to draft senator warren to run for president. and you know what, i stayed back. senator warren decided not to run, and i then did run afterwards. hillary clinton won the popular vote by 3 million votes. how could anybody in a million years not believe that a woman could become president of the united states? and let me be very clear. if any of the women on this stage or any of the men on this stage win the nomination, i hope that's not the case, i hope it's me, but if they do, i will do everything in my power to make sure that they are elected in

order to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of our country. [ applause ] >> so senator sanders, i do want to be clear here, you're saying that you never told senator warren that a woman could not win the election? >> that is correct. >> senator warren, what did you think when senator sanders told you a woman could not win the election? [ laughter ] >> i disagreed. bernie is my friend, and i am not here to try to fight with bernie. but, look, this question about whether or not a woman can be president has been raised and i's time for us to attack it head-on. and i think the best way to talk about who can win is by looking at people's winning record. so, can a woman beat donald trump? look at the men on this stage. collectively, they have lost ten elections. the only people on this stage who have won every single election that they've been in are the women. amy and me.

[ cheers ] >> so true. [ applause ] >> and the only person on this stage who has beaten an incumbent republican anytime in the past 30 years is me. and here's what i know. the real danger that we face as democrats is picking a candidate who can't pull our party together or someone who takes for granted big parts of the democratic constituency. we need a candidate who will excite all parts of the democratic party, bring everyone in, and give everyone a democrat to believe in. that's my plan and that is why i'm going to win. [ cheers and applause ] >> senator klobuchar -- >> thank you. thank you, elizabeth. >> senator klobuchar, what do you say -- >> i would like to -- >> senator klobuchar, let me finish my question. >> oh, okay. >> i thought it was such an open -- i wasn't at the meeting,

so i can't comment, but i was going to say -- >> what do you say to people who say that a woman can't win this election? >> i hear that. people have said it. that's why i've addressed it from this stage. i point out that you don't have to be the tallest person in the world. james madison was 5'4". you don't have to be the skinniest person in the room. you don't have to be the loudest person. you have to be competent. and when you look at the facts, michigan has a woman governor right now and she beat a republican, gretchen whitmer. kansas has a woman governor right now and she beat kris kobach. and her name is, i'm very proud to know her, and her name is governor kelly. thank you. third, i would add to this, you have to be a competent to win and you have to know what you're doing. and when you look at what i have done, i have won every race, every place, every time. i have won in the reddest of districts. i have won in the suburban areas, in the rural areas.

i have brought people with me. that is why i have the most endorsements of current iowa legislators and former iowa legislators in this race. >> thank you. >> because they know i bring people with me. and finally, every single person that i have beaten, my republican opponents have gotten out of politics for good. and i think -- i think that sounds pretty good, i think that sounds pretty good with the guy we have in the white house right now. >> senator sanders, you can respond. >> well, just to set the record straight, i defeated an incumbent republican running for congress. >> when? >> 1990. that's how i won. beat a republican congressman. number two. >> 30 years ago. >> i don't think there's any debate -- >> wasn't it 30 years ago? >> i beat an incumbent republican congressman. >> and i said, i was the only one who's beaten an incumbent republican in 30 years. >> well, 30 years ago is 1990,

as a matter of fact,. >> but i don't know that that's a major issue of the day. i think what the major issue of the day is. does anybody in their right mind think that a woman cannot be elected president? nobody believes that. hillary clinton got 3 million votes -- more votes than trump. so who believes that a woman can't win? of course, a woman can win. but the real question is, how do we beat trump? and the only way we beat trump is by a campaign soft energy and excitement and a campaign that has, by far, the largest voter turnout in the history of this country. and i believe that our campaign has the strongest grassroots movement -- >> thank you. senator warren, i want to give you the final word. >> i do think it's the right question, how do we beat trump? and here's the thing. since donald trump was elected, women candidates have outperformed men candidates in

competitive races. and in 2018, we took back the house, we took back state houses, because of women candidates and women voters. look, don't deny that the question is there. back in the 1960s, back in 2008 people asked dp an african-american could win. in both times the democratic party stepped up and said yes. got behind their candidate and we changed america. that is who we are. >> vice president biden. go ahead. >> i agree women can win. i have campaigned for 27 of them in 2018. the best group i have campaigned for. the real issue is who can bring the party together and represent all elements of the party. african-american, brown, black, women, men. gay, straight.

the fact of the matter is in terms of endorsement around the country, where ever we go, i am the one who has the broadest coalition of anyone running up here. in this race. >> all right. we'll take a short break. the democratic presidential debate live from drake university will be back right after this. ...#1 brand that gives... powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure.

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welcome back to the cnn democratic presidential debate live from drake university in des moines, iowa. let's turn to healthcare. the top issue for iowa democrats. donald trump is trying to repeal obamacare. including the protection for preexisting conditions. we all know each of you oppose that. still there are questions about what each of you would do. senator sanders you have consistent will refused to say exactly how much your medicare for all plan is going to cost. don't voters deserve to see the price tag before you send them a bill that could cost tens of trillions of dollars? >> what i will tell you is medicare for all which will guarantee comp rehence i have healthcare to every man, woman and child will cost substantially less than the status quo. medicare for all will end the absurdity of the united states paying by far the highest prices inion

drugs and healthcare in general. while we have 76 million uninsured and under insured and while 30,000 people die each year. medicare for all one of the provisions we have to pay for it is a 4% tax on income exempting the first $29,000. so the average family in america that today makes $60,000 would pay $1,200 a year compared to that family paying $12,000 a year. we save money, comprehensive healthcare because we talk on the greed and the administrative nightmare that exists in our dysfunctional system. >> does he owe voters a price tag on the healthcare plan? >> we need to be candid with voters and tell them what it will cost. a 4% tax on income over $24,000 doesn't come cles to paying for

between 30 and some estimates 40 trillion over ten years. that's doubling the entire federal budget a year. the way to do that is take obamacare, rebuild it. provide a public option. medicare for the folks who want it. and make sure that we the process reduce the cost of drug prices. reduce the cost of being able to buy into the subsidizes and make it available to everyone. that cost a will the of money. $740 billion over ten years. i'd lay out how to pay for that. >> first of all what he forgets to say is when you leave the current system as it it is, what you are talking about are workers paying on average 20% on their incomes for healthcare. that is insane. you have 500,000 people going bankrupt because they cannot pay

their medical bills. we're spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as people in any other country. we have talked about healthcare for all in the country for over 100 years. now is the time to take on the greed and corruption of the healthcare industry of the drug companies and finally provide healthcare to all through a medicare for all single payer program. it won't be easy. it's what we have to do. >> you can do it without that. you can get the same place. >> klobuchar, your response. >> we have worked together on pharmaceuticals for a long time. we agree. what i don't agree is his position on healthcare. this debate isn't real. i was in las vegas the other day and someone said don't put your chips on a number on the wheel that isn't even on the wheel. that's the problem. over two-thirds of the democrats in the u.s. senate are not on

the bill that you and senator warren on on. you have numerous governors that are democratic that don't support this. numerous house numbers put nancy pelosi as speaker. the non-profit public option. the answer is the real debate we should be having is how to make it easier for people to get coverage for addiction and mental health. i have a plan for that. finally what to do about long term care. the elephant that doesn't fit in the room. my dad when his long term care insurance ends and we have some savings for him. he's in assisted living. he got married three times. there isn't much there. then we go to medicaid and i'm already talked to elder care. they are willing to take him in. our story is better than so many families. we have to make it easier for long term care.

it's not just -- it's the sandwich generation. people trying to help parents. >> senator warren. >> we need to start with what's happening in america. people are suffering. 36 million people last year went to the doctor, got a prescription. this is what they needed to get well. and couldn't afford to have the prescription filled. they looked and said it's groceries or this. we have to get as much as help to as many people as quickly as possible. i worked out a plan we can do thout without raising taxes on middle class families. what i can do is on president on the first day. cut the cost of prescription drugs. i'll use the power that is already given to the president. to reduce the cost of insulin and pens and hiv aids drugs. let's get relief to the families and i will defend the affordable care act. i have a plan to expand

healthcare. when we come to a general election we may argue among each other about the best way to do healthcare. we're going to be up against a republican who has cut healthcare for millions of people in and still trying to do that. i'll take our side of the argument any day. we'll beat him on this. >> vice president biden. >> the proposal does in fact limit drug cost. it sets up allows all the drug companies -- to medicare to negotiate with drug companies. for the price. it sets a system where by you cannot raise the price of a drug beyond the cost of medical inflation. and by the way there's mental health parody i call for in the obamacare expanded with the biden option. >> mr. steyer. >> we have had this conversation on this stage so many times. everybody on this stage believes that affordable healthcare is a

right for every single american. everybody on this stage knows americans are paying twice as much for healthcare as any other advanced country in the world. it makes no sense. the government has to step in. i happen to agree with vice president biden we should move and develop the affordable act with a public option. it's not a new problem. why do we keep having the conversation? we have a broken government. it has been bought by corporations that include the drug companies, insurance company and private hospitals. that is what i'm talking about. how do we get back government of, by and for the people? how do we break the corporate strangle hold on the government. to get anything passed. >> senator sanders. your campaign proposal ts double federal spending over the next decade. undprentsed level of spending not seen since world war ii. how would you keep the plans from bankrupting the country? >> the plan wouldn't bankrupt

the country it would much improve the well being of working class families in the middle class. let us be clear what medicare for all does, it ends all premiums. all copayments. the add surdty of the deductibles. it ends out of the pocket expenses and takes on the pharmaceutical industry which in some cases charges us ten times more for the same prescription drugs sold abroad and here. what we will do through a medicare for all program is substantially lower the cost of healthcare for employers and workers because we end the $100 billion a year the healthcare industry makes ask approximate the 500 billion a year we spend in administrate i have nightmare of dealing with thousands of separate insurance plans. healthcare is a human right. every other major country on

earth is guaranteeing healthcare for all. the time is long over due for us to do the same. >> senator klobuchar. >> i think it is much better to build on the affordable care act. if you want to be pancreatic ra progressive at the same time and have a plan and not a pipe dream. have a way to pay for it. the affordable care act is ten points more popular than the president of the united states. the answer is build on it. you should show how to pay for things. i do. this president is treating people out there like poker chips in a bankrupt casino. the way he is adding to the debt. i'm the one person up here who has on her web site in her plan a plan to actually start taking on the deficit. taking part of that money from the corporate tax cut that they put in there and putting it in a fund to pay back the deficit. i have shown how i'll pay for every plan.

capitol gains going to the personal level. getting rid of oil give aways. hedgeup. >> mayor buttigieg you're selling your plan for medicare for all. your plan would enroll uninsured americans into a public option even if they don't want it and force them to pay for it. how is that truth in advertising? >> making sure there is no such thing as an uninsured american. the individual mandate was an important part of the aca. the system doesn't work if there are free riders. what i'm offering is a choice. you don't have to do in my plan if there's another plan you would rather keep. there's no need to kick americans off the plans they want in order to deliver healthcare for all. my plan is paid for. our party should no longer hesitate to talk about the issue of the debt and the deficit. we have a dramatically better

track record than republicans. in my lifetime it's invariably republican presidents who added to the deficit. a trillion dollars under this president. it's why everything i put forward to the informsments we'll make in infrastructure. to climate change is fully paid for. healthcare you can do it in two moves. my plan cost $1.5 trillion over a decade. no small sum. but not 20, 30, 40, from the others. two common sense things. negotiate prescription prices and roll back the tax cuts that went to corporations and wealthy that didn't need it. >> i started this by talking about 36 million americans including americans with insurance who can't afford to have a prescription filled. we all talk about plans, healthcare plans we have. they are paid for. the problem is that plans like the mayor and vice president is

they are an improvement. improvement over where we are now. there are small improvement. that's why it cost so much less. by themselves they won't be enough to cover prescriptions for 36 million people who can't afford them. what we need to do is make the commitment that we know where the money comes from, we can ask those at the very top the top 1% to pay a little more. those giant corporations like chevron and amazon who paid nothing in taxes we can have them pay. and we can go after the corporate tax cheats and when we do that we have enough money to provide healthcare for all our people. we build on affordable care act, where we end up is we offer healthcare to all of our people. and we can offer it at no cost or low cost to all of them. >> mayor buttigieg. >> it's just not true. the plan i'm proposing is small. we have to move past washington

mentality that suggests that the bigness of plans only consistent of how many trillions of dollars they put through the treasury the the boldness of a plan consistents of how many people it can alien ate. issue the effects of the plans based on what they would do in every day lives. we're taking on cost. on prescription drugs, we'll have an out of pocket cap. a $250 monthly cap. here's why it has to be monthly. the situation who find they have a defer a procedure or deflailing a prescription to try to have it happen in the right month? because when you're out of pocket cap hits. it makes no sense medically. most don't experience the economy on annual. bills don't come in every year. it's every month. same with paychecks. that's why we set this up in a way to solve the problem without

running on $20 trillion. >> the numbers that the mayor is offering don't add up. the average family in america last year paid $12,000 in some combination of deductible and copay and uncovered expenses and fees. you can't cover that with a kind of money that the mayor is talking about. the way we have to approach this is we have to build this and we have to build the alliances to make this happen. i can bring down the cost of prescription drugs like insulin and take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the system immediately and cost. we can get help to families. we have to be willing to work together. we can let people experience what healthcare is like when it's you and your doctor, mental health professional. nurse practitioner. with no insurance company standing in the middle. >> senator klobuchar. >> you acknowledge that medicare for all you couldn't get there right away. you got on the bill that said on

page 8 that you would kick 149 million americans off their current health insurance. then a few months ago you said you'll wait a while to get there. that was some acknowledgment that maybe what we're talking about it is true. i don't buy it's not enough. it's a big step to say to people paying $100,000 your premium will be cut in half. as you talk to buttigieg about medicare and having negotiations, i have led that bill for years. i have 34 cosponsors. as president i can get it done. that would allow medicare to finally negotiate and lift the ban that big far ma got into law saying it can't negotiate for better prices. i will get it done. >> cnn reached out to iowa democratic voters for their most pressing questions. edward from here in des moines

writes, des moines is insurance town. what happens to all the insurance industry here is if there is medicare for all. what happens to the jobs and livelihoods of the people that live in insurance towns like des moines? >> we build in to the medicare for all program in transition fund of many many billions of dollars. that will provide for up to five years. income and healthcare and job training for those people. here is the issue, tom steyer made the point. we are spending twice as much on person on healthcare as any other country. that is insane. in some cases ten times more for prescription drugs. why is that? and the answer is the greed and corruption of the drug companies and the insurance company. if we want to do what every other major country on earth does.

and guarantee people healthcare is a human right. not a privilege. you know what we have to do? finally going to have to stand up to the healthcare industry. and end hundreds of billions of dollars of waste and profiteering. >> i want to emphasize what sanders said. this is not a complicated problem. between what senator warren and sanders said it's clear. there are two problems. we're spending way too much because corporations own the system. and we're not negotiating against those corporations. we have given tax cuts to the richest americans and the biggest corporations for decades. that's all this is. we have corporations who are having their way with the american people and people are suffering. senator warren is right. this is cruelty for money. in order to break this, we'll have to break the corporate strangle hold and solve both the tax and the negotiating problem.

that's why i'm for term limits. with need to redo washington d.c. and actually take back the government from the corporations. >> vice president biden. >> i would argue that the biggest breakthrough in recent time was us being able to do an administration with five democratic presidents couldn't get done. that is pass obamacare. it was a big deal. secondly i would argue the way you can control drug prices is limit what they can charge. you don't have to pay the price. if they charge many than we set the price, they can -- we can report from abroad assuming it is safe. we -- it's only yellow. we can do all of this and still provide people the option to stay the roughly 150 million americans who like the negotiating plan they have with employers. if they don't like it they can

buy into a medicare plan and the biden plan. >> let's talk about prescription drugs right now. prescription drug prices in a 2018 americans spent $335 billion on prescription drugs alone. that's about $60 billion more than they paid a decade ago. senator warren, you have called for the creation of a government run drug manufacturer that would step in if there's is drug shortage or price spike. why does it make sense for the government for the government to manufacture drugs especially when public trust in government is near historic lows? >> both ways. what i have said is i'm going to use the power that is available and i will do what a president can do all by herself on the first day. lower the prices of certain prescription drugs. lower the price of insulin. we have the legal authority with the president to do that.

president hasn't hicked up and used it. that will bring a lot of relief to families immediately. that are a lot of drugs about 90% that are not under pat ernt. but they figured out to manipulate the industry and jerk the prices up and up. let's give them competition. the government let's contracts for all kind of things. contracts to build buildings they let contracts to build military weapons. let's let the contracts out. put the contracts out. so that we can put more generic drugs out there and drive down the prices. this is way to make markets work. not to try to move away from the market. you don't have to use price control. the whole idea behind it is get some competition out there. so the price of the drugs that are no longer under patent drops

where it should. >> senator klobuchar do you believe the government should manufacture drugs? >> i'm open to look at it. but i mention medicare negotiation. i have a plan 137 things i found that a president can do herself in the first 100 days without congress that are legal. and one of those things is that you can start bringing in less expensive drugs from other parties. we had an amendment. we got 14 republican votes. it was at midnight. we got that. i now have an actual bill with senator grassly that does that. and a bill to get out what elizabeth was talking about which is stop je neics from taking money from big pharmaceuticals to keep the products off the market. the issue is there are two lobbiests for every member of the congress. they own washington they don't

own me. >> we'll turn to child care. a huge expense for many new families and a problem especially acute and rural iowa. we have another question for an iowa democratic voter. mayor buttigieg for you. tiffmy writes as a young mom i had to quit a job i love because child care was taking up two-thirds of my income. many families don't have the option of quitting a job. because that income is needed. that leads to families using whatever care they can find. and sometimes the results are deadly as we have seen in iowa. how will you prioritize accessing quality, affordable child care in the first 100 days in office? >> it makes no sense for child care to cost two-thirds of somebody's income. we have to drive it to 7% or below. and zero for the families who are living in poverty. this is happening to folks at every level of the income spectrum. professionals who sometimes say

that they'reld care in order to be able to be working. it makes no sense. and it must change. we shouldn't be afraid to put federal dollars into making that a reality. subsidizing child care and making sure that we are building up a work force of people who are paid at a decent level to offer early childhood education and child care rit large. we can do that. until we do this will be the biggest drivers of the gender pay gap. when somebody like the voter has to step out of the work force because of the reason, she is at a disadvantage when schoems back in. and can effect her pay for the rest of her career. >> your education plan includes tuition free public college for all. you impose an income limit for free child care. why do plans cover everyone for public college but not child care and early learning? >> actually my plan is universal child care for everyone. it has some people adding a

small payment. understand this about the plan, i have been there. i remember when i was a young mom. i had two kids and i had my first real university teaching job. it was hard work. i was excited. it was child care that nearly brought me down. we went through one child care after another and it didn't work. if i hadn't been saved by my aunt, i was ready to quit my job. i think about how many women of my generation got knocked off the track and never got back on. how many of my daughters generation get knocked off and don't get back on. how many moms and dads today are getting knocked off the track and never get back on. i have a two cent wealth tax so we can cover child care for all of our children and provide universal prek for every 3 year-old and 4 year-old in america. and stop exploiting the people who do this valuable work.

largely black and brown women. we can raise the wages of every child care worker and preschoolteacher in america. that is an informsment in our babies and their moms and dads. and it's an investment in our teachers and our economy. >> senator sanders, will your universal child care program be free for everyone regardless of income? >> let me pick up on this. every psychologist in the world knows zero through 4 are the most important years of human life. emotionally and intel chully. the current system is app embarrassment, unaffordable. workers are making wages lower than mcdonald donalds. we need to change priorities in america. we shouldn't be a few countries that doesn't have universal high squalt affordable child care. one of the only major countries not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right. we shouldn't be spending more

than the ten next countries on the military. hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. tax breaks for billionaires and tell moms and dads we cannot help child care. that is wrong. >> vice president biden, infant care is more expensive than in state public college tuition in half the country. do you support free universal infant care? >> it should be free infant care. here's the deal. i was a single parent too. when my wife and daughter were killed my two boys i had to raise. i was senator. i hadn't been sworn in yet. i was making $42,000 a year. i commuted every day to delaware over 500 miles a day. 250 miles a day. because i couldn't afford but for my family child care. it was beyond my reach to be able to do it. that's why there's several things we do.

when i triple the amount of money for title 1 schools every child, 3, 4, and 5 year-old will have full schooling. they'll go to school. after school programs which will release some of the burden. secondly i think we should have an $8,000 tax credit putting 7 million women back to work that can afford to go to work and still care for their children. as an $8,000 tax credit. i believe we should for people who are not able to afford any of the infant care to be able to get that care. bernie is right we have to raise the salary of the people who are doing the care. and i provide for that as well. my time is up. but i'm not going over like everybody else. >> mayor buttigieg. higher education is another huge expense for families. you oppose free public college for all because you don't want to make it quote free for the kids of millionaires. lots of public services are available to the kids of rich people. like libraries and public

school. why do you draw the line at public college and university? >> it's simple. we expect and hope for everyone to get through 12th grade. it's not the same for college. again, i don't want cost ever to be a barrier. to somebody seeking to adlejd. it won't be under my plan. 80% is free. at public colleges. if you're in the top income bracket i wish you well. i hope you succeed in college. i need you to go ahead and pay the tuition. we could be using the dollars for something else. there's a very real choice about what we do with every single taxpayer dollar that we raise. we need to be using that to support everybody. whether you go to college or not. making sure americans can thrive investing in infrastructure and something that hasn't come up very much tonight but deserves

attention. poverty. the poor people campaign is marching on iowa right now calling on us to talk about this issue more. they are driven by the faith. because even though in politics we're supposed to talk middle claz. there's no scripture you have done unto me. we have to target the tax dollars where they will make the biggest difference. i don't think subsidizing children of millions to pay zero in tuition of public college is the best use of the scarce taxpayer dollars. >> the way i think we need to do this is a wealth tax in america. ask people with people over r50 million to pay more. the millionaire that i would tax would be paying about $19 million in the first year in taxes. if he wants to send his kid to public university than i'm okay with it. because what we really need to talk about is the bigger economic picture. we need to be willing to put a

wealth tax in place. to ask the giant corporations that is are not paying to pay. because that is how we build an economy and those who want to talk about, bring down the national debt. you do universal child care and you have moms who can go to work and finish education. we make that investment. in universal college. we have -- >> senator klobuchar. >> i appreciate your thoughts. but i want to step back. i actually they some of the colleagues who want free college for all aren't thinking big enough. i think what we have to look at is how to connect education system with our economy. where are our job openings and what do we need? we'll have over 1 million openings for home healthcare workers that we don't know how to fill in the next ten years. we are going to have open 100,000 jobs for nursing assistants. we'll have over 70,000 openings

for electricians. we're not having a shortage of mbas it's a shortage of plumbers. when we look at that we step back. where should our money go? into k through 12. free one and two year degrees. like my dad got. like my sister got. and then double the grants we'll need four year degrees so the money goes where it should go stind of rich kids to college. >> should your children have been entitled to free public college? >> no. let me say this. i was one of the people who talked about a wealth tax a year and a half ago. i believe that the income inequality in the country is unbearable and unjust and unsupportable. and the redistribution of wealth to the richest americans from everyone else has to end. and i proposed a wealth tax a year and a half ago to start to address it and raise the money that we need. i want to go beyond this and back to the question about education.

we're talking about college. if you talk about the poor people's campaign you have to realize that for the youngest kids they are getting an education that is relative to the taxes in their neighborhood. we need to redistribute money so every kid has a chance. so we're not legislating inequalfy for the next generation and actually invest in every single kid specifically poor kid specifically black kids. specifically brown kid. start using the money more for that. >> we'll be back with more from the democratic presidential debate live from des moines, iowa. stay right here. (music)

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welcome back to the democratic presidential debate. we're live in des moines, iowa. tomorrow the speaker nancy pelosi will spend articles of the impeachment against president trump to the united states senate. launching the third trial of the u.s. president. the republican led senate has signalled it is likely to acquit him. vice president biden, if you're the nominee, is it going to be harder to run against president trump if he's been acquitted and able to claim vindication especially after what he said about your family? >> it's irrelevant. there's no choice but to for the nancy pelosi and the house to

move. he has in fact committed impeachable offenses. whether the senate is for them to decide. by the way, i'm told that i say we have to unite the country and it will be harder after this trial. it maybe. look, i understand how these guys are. this republican party. they have gone after my surviving son. told lies your net works won't carry on tv. because they are flat out lies. and i did my job the question is whether or not he did his job. and he hasn't done his job. so it doesn't reallymatter whether or not he is gone after me. i have to be in a position i think of the american people. i can't hold a grudge. i have to be able to not only fight but heal. and as president of the united states that is what i will attempt to do. not with standing a more division after he's defeated by me this next time. >> senator klobuchar, you're going to be a juror in the trial in the senate that's about to

start. do you worry president trump will be em boldened by acquittal? >> no. we have a constitutional duty to perform here. when i look at what the issue is it's whether or not we'll be able to have witnesses. we have asked for only four people. as witnesses. and if our republican colleagues won't allow those witnesses, they may as well give the president a crown and a accept tor. they may as well make him king. last time i checked counter was founded on the idea we dent want to be ruled by a king. the best way to think about this is trial and what we're facing in this election is a story of a man from iowa. his name was joseph well much. from humble beginnings son of i immigrants. he became the army counsel and went to the hearings and when he was blacklisting people and going after people because of their political believes.

there was only one man. everyone was afraid of being blacklisted. well much stood up and said have you no sense of decency? have you no sense of decency. this is a decency check on our government. this is a patriotism check. not only is this trial that, but also this election. and no matter if you agree with everyone on the stage. you know this is a decency check on this president. >> mr. steyer, you have spent millions and millions of dollars telling the american people that president trump deserves to be impeached. will it have been worth if it he's impeached but not removed from office? >> wolf, actually what i have done is organize a petition drive of 8 and a half million americans to sign and say this president deserves to be impeached and removed from office and the 8 and a half

million people have called their congress people and e-mailed and have dragged washington d.c. to see that this is a question of right and wrong. and not of political expediency. if you ask me whether standing up for what's right in america, standing up for the american people and our safety, standing up for the constitution. whether doing that is trying to bring the truth in front of the american people and televised hearings so we can decide what the truth is for ourselves, if you think that that isn't worth it then you don't share the idea that i do about what america is about. standing up for what's right is always worth it. i will never back down from that. >> senator warren. a senate trial is expected to teep you in washington in the weeks leading up to the iowa caucus. how big of a problem is that for you as your making your closing pitch to voters here? >> some things are more

important than politics. i took an oath to uphold the constitution of the united states of america. it says that no one is above the law. that includes the president of the united states. we have an impeachment trial i will be there because it is my responsibility. understand this, with that impeachment trial is going to show once again to the american people and something we should all be talking about is the corruption of the administration. that is what lies at heart of it. it's about donald trump putting donald trump first. not the american people. not the interest of the united states of america. not helping ukraine defend against russia. it is about him helping himself. that is what we need to do to win this election. we need to draw that distinction and show that as democrats we're not going to be the people who are just out for the big corporations. people who want to help themselves that we are going to be the party that is willing to fight on the side of the people. that's why we're here.

>> let's turn to the climate crisis. here in iowa parts of the state remain under water after record breaking flooding began last spring. racking up $2 billion in damages. today many iowaens are still displaced from their homes. mayor buttigieg, you have talked about helping people move from areas at high risk of flooding. what do you about farms and factories that can't be moved? >> that's why we have to fight climate change with such urgency. climate change has come to america from coast to coast. iowa, we have seen it in historic floods in my community. i had to activate our emergency operation center for a once in a millennial flood. and two years later did the same thing. in australia there are literally tornados made of fire. taking place. this is no longer theoretical. or off in the future. we have to act to adapt and make

sure communities are resilient and economy the ready for the consequences that will happen. one way or the other. we have to ensure na we don't allow this to get worse. if we get right, farmers will be a huge part of the solution. we need to reach out to the very people who have sometimes been made to feel that accepting climate science would be a defeat for them. talking about farmers or industrial workers in my community. and make clear we need to enlist them -- national project to do something. >> what do you do about farms and factories that cannot be relocated? >> we'll have to use federal funds to make sure that we are supporting those whose lives will be impacted further. by the increase severity and increase frequency. by the way, that is happening to farms and factories. and happens to black and brown americans which is why equity and environmental justice have been to be at the core of the

plan. >> mr. steyer, your response. >> what you're talking about is what's called managed retreat. it's basically saying we'll have to move things because this crisis is out of control. and it's unbelievably expensive and of course we'll come to the rescue of americans in trouble. this is why climate is my number one priority. i'm still shocked that i'm the only person on the stage who will say this. i would declare a state of emergency on day one on climate. i would do for the standpoint of environmental justice and duoto the black and brown communities where yo u can't breathe the air or drink the water out of the tap. we'll create millions of good paying union jobs across the country. it's going to be the biggest job program in american history. we have to do it and we can do it. i know that we can do it in way that makes us healthier and better paid and more just. the truth of the matter is we'll have to do it and make the whole

world come along with us. and priority one. >> to clarify. you say you're the climate change candidate. but you made your $1.6 billion in part by investing in coal, oil and gas. are you the right messenger on this topic? >> i absolutely am. we invest in every part of the economy. over ten years ago i realize there was something going on that had to do with fossil fuel that we had to change so i divested from fossil fuel. and gave most of the money away while i'm alive. for 12 years i have fighting climate crisis. i have stopped fossil fuel plants in california. i fought the keystone pipeline. i have a history of over a decade of leading the climate fight. successfully. so actually, yes. i am the person who has the chops and history that says i'll make it priority one. i have been doing it for a listening time. >> senator warren president trump is rolling back major

environmental rules to allow pipeline projects without strict environmental review. will you restore the protections and can't over turn? >> yes. climate change threatens every living thing on this planet. the urgency of the moment cannot be overstated. i will everything a president can do on the first day. i will roll back the environmental changes that donald trump is putting in place. i will stop all new drilling and mining on federal lands. and offshore drilling. that will help us get in the right direction. i'll bring in the farmers. they can be part of the climate solution. we should see this for the problem it is. mr. steyer talks about it being problem number one. understand this. we have known about this climate crisis for decades. back in the 1990s we were calling if global warming. we knew what it was. democrats and republicans back then were working together.

because no one want ld a problem. you know what happened? the industry came in and said we can make big money if we keep them divided and make no change. priority number one has to be taking back our government from the corruption. that is the only way we will make progress on climate, on gun safety, on healthcare. on all of the issues. >> senator klobuchar. >> some of your competitors on the stage called for ban on fracking. you haven't. why not? >> first of all i would note i have 100% rating from the league of conservation voters. that is because i have stood tall on every issue that we have talked about up here. when it comes to this administration. this trump administration. trying to reverse environmental protections. i think it is going to lead to so many problems and one thing that hasn't been raised by the way is the rules on me that i

know. one of the most dangerous hazards they have embarked on and bring the rules back as well as a number of other ones. bh it comes to the issue of fracking. i actually see natural gas as a transition fuel. it's a transition fuel to where we get to carbon neutral. nearly every one of us has a plan that is very similar. that is to get to carbon neutral by 2045 to 2050. by to 30 do a 45% reduction. i want to add one thing. when we do this we have to make sure that we make people whole. when we put a tax on carbon which we will do through cap and trade or through a renewable electricity standard or fee on carbon. we have to make sure money goes back to the people hurt by it. energy bills and bring jobs to areas that will lose jobs.

>> senator sanders. >> thank you. let's be clear. if we as a nation do not transform our energy system away from fossil fuel, not by 2050, not 2040. but unless we lead the world right now, not easy stuff. the planet we are leaving our kids will be uninhabitable and unhealthy. we are seeing australia burn. we saw california burn. the drought here in iowa is going to make it harder for farmers to produce the food that we need. this is a of course a national crisis. i introduced legislation to indicate it's a national crisis. we have got to take on the fossil fuel industry. and all of their lies. and tell them that their short term prochfit are not more porp than the future of this planet. that's what the green new deal

does. that's what we have to do. >> vice president your response. >> back in 1986 i introduced the first climate change bill. and check it was a game changer. i have been fighting this is long time. i headed up the recovery act which put money into moving away from fossil fuel to solar and wind energy. look, what we have to do is act right away. immediately if i'm elected president i'll reinstate the standards that exist in our administration which were taken down. 12 billion barrels of gasoline saved immediately. with regard to those people who are going to be victimized by what's already happened, we should be investing in infrastructure that raises roads, makes sure we're in a position where we have every new highway built is a green highway.

550,000 charging stations. we can create millions of good paying jobs. we're the only country in the world that ever take great crisis and turn it into great opportunity. one of the ways to do it is with farmers here in iowa by making them the first group in the world to get to net zero emission by paying them for planting and absorbing carbon in their fields. there's more o to say. >> a key part of the mission in the primary is prove to democratic voters you're strong enough to take on donald trump. each of you face unique challenges in doing that. buttigieg, you have had trouble earning support of black voters because you are unknown. you have been campaigning for a year. you have next to no black support. support you need in order to beat donald trump. is it possible black voters have gotten to know you and decided to choose at candidate? >> the black voters who know me best are supporting me. it's why i have the most support in south bend. and among elected black

officials in my community who have gotten into this race, by far most of them are supporting me. now nationally i'm proud that my campaign is cochaired by a member of the congressional black caucus. and to have support right here in iowa from some of the most recognizable black elected leaders. from the mayor of water loo. and black hawk county. the biggest mistake we can make is take black votes for granted. i never will. the reason i have the support i do is not because any voter thinks i'm perfect, it's because of the work that we have done facing some of the toughest issues that communities can. not from the luxury of a debate or a television panel or committee room. on the ground. issues from poverty, to justice in policing. i'm proud to say we have been nationally recognized for our work as race informed city on delivering greater economic justice. we have reduced use of force by

leading the region? transparency. around the use of force in policing. of course there is a much longer way to go. in my community and around the country. i will be a president who personal commitment is to continue doing this work. >> senator sanders, you call yourself a democratic socialist. more than two-thirds of the voters two-thirds of voters say they are not enthusiastic about voting for a socialist. opportunity that put your chances of beating donald trump at risk? >> nope, not at all. and that is because the campaign that we are going to run will expose the fraudulentsy of who donald trump is. donald trump is corrupt. he is a pathological liar and he is a fraud. now when trump talks about socialism, what he talks about is giving hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. donald trump is a businessman, received $800 million in tax

breaks and subsidies to build luxury housing. my democratic socialism says health care is a human right. we're going to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. we're going to make public colleges and universities tuition tree. we're going to green new deal and create up to $to million, saving the planet for our children and grandchildren. we're going to take on the greed and corruption of the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies. that is what democratic socialism is about and that will win this election. >> mr. steyer you spent more than 100 million of your own dollars on television ads. how do you convince voters that you're more than just your money? >> look, we know how donald trump is going to run for president. he's going to run on the economy. he's already told americans last month in florida you don't like me and i don't like you.

but you're all going to vote for me because the democrats are going to destroy the economy in 15 minutes if they get in control. so let's be clear. i started a business by myself in one room. i didn't inherit a penny from my parents. i spent 30 years building that business into a multibillion dollar international business and then i walked away from it and took the giving pledge and started organizing coalitions of ordinary americans to take on unchecked corporate power. whoever is going to beat donald trump is going to beat him on the economy and i have the experience and expertise to show he's a fake there and a fraud. look, mayor pete has three years as an analyst in mckenzie. i have 30 years of international business experience. i can beat trump on the economy. we're going to have to beat him on the economy and i look forward to taking him down in the fall on the debate stage. >> mayor buttigieg. >> demoted me. i thought i was an associate.

that's okay. it was not the biggest part of my clear but i am ready to take on this president on the economy because i am from the exact kind of industrial midwestern community he pretends to speak to and has proven to turn his back on. and guided that community through a historic transformation when at the beginning of the decade i took office we were described as a dying city. i'm ready to take on donald trump because when we gets to the tough talk, and the chest thumping, he's have to stand next to an american war veteran and explain how he pretended bone spurs made him ineligible to serve. and if he keeps trying to use religion, if a guy like donald trump keeps trying to use religion to somehow recruit christianity into the gop i will be standing there not afraid to talk about a different way to answer the call of faith. and insist that god does not belong to a political party. i am ready to take on this

president on everything. >> senator klobuchar, you're pitching yourself as a practical candidate who can get things done and even tonight you've dismissed some of the ideas that are offered in this primary as pipe dreams. how are you going to inspire democratic voters with a message of pragmatism? >> our voters have seen now a number of years of a guy that has, i think, told over 15,000 lies. he is someone that literally has a rap sheet of divisive rhetoric. i think what americans want is something different. i am going to be able to stand across from him on that debate stage and say to my friends in iowa the midwest is not flyover country for me. i live here. i'm going to be able to look at him and say you've treated these workers and farmers like poker chips. for me, these are my friends and these are my neighbors.

i'm going to be able to look at him and say, you know what, you got $413 million over the course of your career. that's how you built your fortune and what i'm going to say is this. my grandpa worked 1,500 underground to send my dad to a community college, that's my family trust. when you have been given an opportunity like that you go into the world not with a sense of entitlement, donald trump, but with a sense of obligation. >> senator warren what do you say to voters who like your policies but they're worried they will scare away swing voters you need to win this race in november. >> i was born and raised in oklahoma, three older brothers retired, and two of them are republicans and sure there are a lot of things we disagree on and we can take to our corners and give them democratic/republican

talking points but there's a whole lot we agree on. my brother is furious over chevron and amazon, giant corporations making billions of dollars in profits and pay nothing in taxes. my brother said i don't get this, i have to pay my taxes, somebody has to keep the roads paved and the schools open and pay for our defense. they understand that we have an america right now that's working great for those at the top it's just not working for anyone else. we have a chance to unite. unite as democrats, but also with independents and republicans who are sick of living in a country that's working great for the politicians that are taking the money, it's working great for the lobbyists and working great for the corporate executives, it's just not working for everyone else. i'm building the grassroots movement leading the fight, we're going to make this america work for everyone else. that is how we're going to beat

donald trump. >> vice president biden, the eventual nominee will face president trump who has no problem mocking people using insulting nicknames, slinging mud and telling lies. the debate against him will make tonight's debate look like child's play. >> i've been the object of his affection now more than anybody else on the stage. i've taken all the hits he can deliver, and i'm getting better in the polls and i have overwhelming support from the african-american community, overwhelming. more than everybody else in this operation, number one. number two, working class people where i come from in pennsylvania and delaware, i have great support. i have support across the board and i'm not worried about taking on donald trump at all. and with regard to the economy i can hardly wait to have a debate with him. the neighbors i come from, they're in real trouble, working class people and middle class people and middle class does well, working class has the way up and wealthy do well.

but they're being clobbered now, being killed, and now have a situation where if they -- the vast majority believe their children will never reach the stage that they've reached in economic security. i love that debate because the american public is getting clobbered. the wealthy are the only ones doing well, period. i'm looking forward to the economic debate. >> we'll be right back with more from cnn's democratic presidential debate, live from des moines, iowa. stay right here. best picture. we need to keep moving! and academy award nominated for best picture of the year. you're stronger than you know. so strong. you power through chronic migraine, 15 or more headache or migraine days a month. one tough mother. you're bad enough for botox®. botox® has been preventing headaches and migraines before they even start for almost 10 years, and is the #1 prescribed branded chronic migraine treatment.

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welcome back to cnn's democratic presidential debate, live from des moines, iowa. time now for closing statements. you each have one minute. senator klobuchar, let's begin with you. >> donald trump thinks this is all about him. i think it's about you. it's not about his resorts or his tweets or even his ego. it is about your health care. it is about your schools. it is about your lives and your future. so if you want to do something about racial justice and immigration reform and climate change and gun safety we need a candidate who is actually going to bring people with her. i have won every race, every place, every time. i have gotten the highest voter turnout in the country when i've

led the ticket. i have passed more bills as the lead democrat than anyone who's in congress that's running for president. i believe that we need a president that's going to look out for you. it is easy to hurl insults. it is easy to draw lines in the sand and sketch out grand ideological sketches that will never see the light of day. what is hard is bringing people together and finding common ground instead of scorched earth. what is hard is the work of governing. if you are tired of the extremes in our politics and the noise and the nonsense you have a home with me. join me at amyklobuchar.com. >> mr. steyer. >> i know that iowans are going to caucus in three weeks and this is how i feel about the american people. i've played team sports my entire life, the bond between

teammates is deep and emotional and full of love and as far as i'm concerned the american people are my teammates. if there's one thing i will not permit it is someone to run down the field and kick my teammate in the face and that is exactly what i've seen over the last seven years, traveling around this country, seeing these republicans, by mr. trump, basically kicking the american people in the face. i'm prepared to take on mr. trump on the debate stage and take him down on the economy but i am asking for your support because i know that if i'm -- if i'm going to be a good teammate to you and give you absolutely everything, without any compromise, i need the support of you on caucus night so i can turn around and together we can take back this country and together we can save the world. >> mayor buttigieg. >> this is our moment. this is our one shot. to defeat donald trump. and to do it by such a big margin that we send trumpism into the dust bin of history

too. we cannot take the risk with so much on the line, of trying to confront this president with the same washington mind-set and political warfare that led us to this point. if you are watching this at home and you are exhausted by the spectacle of division and dysfunction, i'm asking you to join me to help turn the page on our politics. you're seeing the president boast about the dow jones, wondering whether any of that will ever get to your kitchen table. join me. if you're a voter of color, feeling taken for granted by politics as usual, join me. if you're used to voting for the other party but right now cannot look your kids in the eye and explain this president to them, join me. we have a chance to change all of this if you can summon the courage to break from the past. that's why i'm running for president, why i'm asking you to caucus for me on february 3rd

and i hope you'll go to peteforamerica.com. >> senator warren. >> i sat here in the break and made notes about many of the things we didn't get to talk about tonight, the disability community struggling for true equality, how gun violence and active shooter drills worry every mother in this country, how children are living in poverty and seeing their life chances shrink, how transwomen of color are at risk, black infant mortality, climate change that hits black communities. farmers barely holding on, people struggling with mental illness and i come here tonight with a heart filled with hope, and it's filled with hope because i see this as our moment in history. our moment when no one is left on the sidelines, our moment when we understand that it comes

to us to decide the future of this country. our moment when we build the movement to make real change. hope and courage. that is how i will make you proud every day. as your nominee, and as the first woman president of the united states of america. >> senator sanders. >> it's been a good debate but we haven't asked the major question. the major question is how does it happen in the richest country in the history of the world that people are living paycheck to paycheck, trying to get buy on $9 or $10 an hour? how does it happen when the top 1% earns more wealth than the bottom 92%, half a million people sleeping on the streets tonight. how does it happen in this great country we are the only major nation not to guarantee health care to all? how does it happen we have a child care system which is

dysfunctional? a criminal justice system which is broken and racist? an immigration system that needs reform? this is the moment when we have got to think big, not small. this is the moment when we have got to have the courage to take on the 1%, take on the greed and corruption of the corporate elite, and create an economy and create a government that works for all of us. not just the 1%. thank you. >> vice president biden. >> character is on the ballot this time around. the american character is on the ballot. not what donald trump is spewing out, the hate, the xenophobia, the racism, that's not what we are as a nation. everyone in this country is entitled to be treated with respect and dignity, every single, solitary person has to have a position that in fact we treat them with decency. it's about fundamental basic

decency. we in the united states of america can put up with -- we can overcome four years of donald trump, but eight years of donald trump will be an absolute disaster and fundamentally change this nation. we have to restore america's soul as i've said from the moment i announced, it is in jeopardy under this president of the united states. we need the world when we lead by example, not by our power. we, in fact, have to gain the respect of the world in order to be able to change things. ladies and gentlemen, we're in a position where we have to remember who we are. this is the united states of america. there's not a single thing beyond our capacity to do if we do it together, let's go do it. >> candidates, thank you very, very much, that concludes the first democratic presidential debate of 2020. in iowa caucuses are 20 days away. tune into cnn for continuing coverage of this presidential election. anderson cooper and chris cuomo

pick up our coverage right now. good evening, i'm anderson cooper live from the democratic debate in des moines, iowa, this is the last time americans will hear the democratic candidates all on stage together, hearing them debate before the first votes are cast 20 days from now, caucuses in 20 days. six candidates on stage, laser focused on policy, iran, health care, jobs, the topics that matter most to voters, plus elizabeth warren and bernie sanders confronting a private conversation that's now become very public, a woman can win the white house, a lot to dissect here, chris cuomo and i will be breaking it down, talking with the candidates on that stage as well tonight. quick roundup with folks right here, gloria, who stood out to you? >> amy klobuchar tried her

hardest to distinguish herself as a pragmatist who can tell the rest of the democrats to get real. i thought biden seemed okay, maybe a little overpreped. i think his closing statement was the best thing we heard from him and that is what his campaign is all about, a fight for character and the soul of america. >> i thought this was elizabeth warren's beth best debate, consistent, strong, emphatic. i think she did what she came to do. as for the vice president his closing was very, very strong. you wonder where that energy is throughout the debate. there were times when he seemed, you know, very much sort of low energy. and the debate itself we expected some fiery moments. there were some confrontations but for whatever reason and it may be that people are uneasy in a race where people are well liked, generally, to take on

folks that might drive second choices away, drive the undecided away. >> warren seemed to be the one person on stage who came in with a plan and executed it. she had, i thought, the best energy. she had the best moment in the debate when she talked about all the men on the stage losing i think ten elections and the women are the only ones who won all of their elections. i thought that was a good moment, arguing for electability and wrapping gender into it. i thought biden had a terrible debate. a moment coming into this debate saying he's the one who can take on donald trump and he is steady and strong and he seemed none of those things in the debate, not the whole way through. closing statement was good. but many people watching the debate may not have watched it all the way through to see his strongest moment. >> 20 days to go, get off the fence, van, where are you? >> i thought pete missed an opportunity. tonight he needed to do something extraordinary, iran hanging out there. he's a veteran.

he missed the puopportunity to stand out. this is elizabeth warren's night, she needed to do something. banana peel for bernie to step on with comments on women. she knocked that moment out of the park. and i think that the only thing that's going to be remembered was how she handled that tonight. i also felt sorry for amy klobuchar, this is, i think, a chance where she could have done really well. she was unfocussed, looking at her notes. but i think elizabeth warren won the night. i thought there were tremendous opportunities for pete tonight, i didn't see it tonight. >> i couldn't agree more. the moment between warren and bernie is obviously the one that will be replayed the most. i think what bernie forgot was that this isn't the he said/she said story, the reported out story that cnn was part of breaking. so to have him just flat out say no, i think wasn't nearly enough

to address that for the women watching. buttigieg and biden both closed really strong. if they brought that energy at the beginning of the debate all the way through we'd have a very different conversation. only one person kept up the optimistic, positive, excited to be here energy, frankly through the whole campaign, that was warren. >> it is essentially he said -- she said. >> it started with reporters citing other sources. >> from what i understand, four sources, two of them had been spoken to about it by warren. only the two in the room know. >> that's true, entirely. >> governor? >> i'm surprised. i thought it would be a much more aggressive debate tonight. this is the last shot you've got until the iowa caucus in three weeks. the four front runners, nobody went after each other. i was really surprised at that. joe biden has been leading the race since he got into it, nobody touched him tonight, choking to me this is your last