like part-time help at the post office at christmas time. it can't be done that way. >> director clapper, i appreciate it. well, that's it for us. the news continues though. i'll hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> thank you very much, anderson. i'm chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." the coronavirus. it's time we deal with the realities and also what the reckoning needs to be here. it's already having an effect. look at the u.s. markets. they're in a two-day freefall. i don't know if you've been outside at all, but if anybody community has people walking, you see all these masks, people are afraid. they don't know what to expect. the president is pretending that he understands some science that nobody else can back up. the least troubling part right now is the number of cases. yes, we're over a dozen. we're bringing in the experts tonight to tell you who's had it here in this country, where it's coming from, what they are worried about. yes, when you listen to the experts from the cdc, they are saying it's not about if, it's about when. but what are the realities? we have two of the most trusted

doctors in america with us tonight. plus a dose of reality that could be coming in this democratic debate tonight. it's unlike any other one we've seen. a lot to talk about. let's get after it. ♪ all right. facts first. here's what the cdc tells us. forget about the president and the politicians for a second. the virus that's been hitting asia may begin spreading in the united states, quote, at the community level. what does that mean? beyond families, beyond spouses, from typical communication of going to the store, going to the work, being outside, disruption to everyday life, quote, may be severe. now, right now how many cases are there in the united states? 57 at most recent count. but that is a qualified number. we'll give you an expert to tell you why that number has to be broken down as well. but the effect is real. the markets are tanking. look, traders trade on fear.

we know that. but this is being whipped up by political indecision as well. the president says he's not concerned, it's going to go away, he thinks it's going to be fine. take a listen. >> coronavirus, which is, you know, very well under control in our country. we have very few people with it. the people are getting better. they're all getting better. >> look, that is at best incomplete and at worst ill-informed. and that's the part that scares the markets. they hear the president say something like this, they know it doesn't match up with any of the data they are hearing from anywhere else. we haven't even begun to deal with it yet. you see what happens with the markets. now, how is the president dealing with this? the politics is part of the infection. his new medal of freedom recipient rush limbaugh. listen to what he says today? >> it looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet

another element to bring down donald trump. i want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus. you think i'm wrong about this? you think i'm missing it? i'm dead right on this. the coronavirus is the common cold, folks. >> you know who he's talking to when he says you think i'm wrong about it? he's probably talking about his own conscience because he doesn't know what the heck he's talking about. it is not the common cold. let's bring in the experts to discuss what is fact. we have the director of the national institute of infectious diseases and the cnn chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta. in terms of preparation, we know the president just asked on monday, we know that there is some pushback that, boy, we should've been doing this a month ago. in terms of what you need to have this country prepared for what you expect to come, where are you? >> well, right now we are pretty

well prepared for what's going on right now, chris. as you mentioned, we have 14 cases in the united states that are travel-related. 12 are travel, two are spouses. the rest are individuals we actually evacuated from the diamond princess ship in yokohama. so the idea of identification, isolation, and contact tracing has been successful in the limited number of individuals we have. the difficulty is that other countries besides china are now having community spread. we are seeing it in italy. we are seeing it in japan. we are seeing it in south korea and iran. when that happens, it becomes evermore difficult to prevent infections from coming into your country. you can be restricted for example the way we did with china by travel restrictions. but once you get it spread throughout the globe it becomes

difficult. that's the reason why we need to be prepared for the eventuality that we will have more cases and that it might actually become community spread. >> all right. now quick follow up, then i want to get to you, doc, about the practical applications for what people should know. is it true, tony, you guys were briefing cdc, hhs. this was happening a month ago where you were saying it's only a matter of time it's going to come here. and the politicians just didn't deliver a month ago. isn't that a fair criticism? >> no. chris, i wouldn't say they didn't deliver. we've had a pandemic preparedness plan that we really developed in preparation for pandemic influenza that we can extrapolate to this. we certainly need more resources and that's what you heard today with the supplemental request. because we can only go a certain way with the resources we have. i mean, i was moving around resources to do the things that we needed to do. >> yeah, but see, that's the point, toni. you are moving resources around

in part because there were program cuts. and i remember when the cuts game and i got called from people in that world saying these are not the kind of programs to cut. you got to keep them fully funded because you never know when we're going to need it. i don't want to drag you into politics. i'm very lucky to be able to rely on both of you guys. you see people walking around with the masks. we're all in and out of airports especially in the political season. they're all over the place. people are stopping to us and talking to us about this more than anything to do with the election. what are the realities? >> i mean, look, if you talk about the risk to the average person still in the united states as things stand, it's still low. dr. fauci just gave all the numbers. those are low numbers. there are a lot of other people who haven't been tested and, in fact, are carrying the virus in their bodies with few symptoms or maybe even no symptoms. i mean, south korea they've

tested tens of thousands of people. in the united states we've tested hundreds of people, and there have been some problems with the testing. so that's a little bit of a concern. the other issue and i think this is what dr. fauci is sort of alluding to, is that these -- all these plans and proceeds in the largest quarantine in human history that's going on in china i think was never designed to prevent this virus from circulating around the world. it's a little strand of rna. it doesn't respect borders or boundaries. when i talked to the head of the cdc, dr. robert redfield, i want you to listen to how he put this, chris, and how he described what he thought was going to happen here. >> this virus is probably with us beyond this season or beyond this year. and i think eventually the virus will find a foothold and we will get community-based transmission. and you can start to think of it in the sense like seasonal flu. the only difference is that we

don't understand this virus. >> seasonal flu is one of the biggest countries in the killer. it sure as heck ain't the common cold. >> that's right. and, look, the concern is, and no one should be minimizing the coronavirus. the numbers are still small here. with flu in the 2017-2018, roughly 61,000 people died of flu. the fatality ratio with flu is .1%. with this coronavirus it's closer to 2% depending on how you look at the numbers. if you start to get that kind of widespread, you know, issue with the coronavirus, you can see how big a problem this is. this is 20 times as lethal. again, hopes that no one is wanting that to happen obviously and doing everything to prevent that from happening, but that is the concern, chris. >> i want to come back to you in one second about what to do in your everyday life. and also, dr. fauci, i've known you over half my life. it's always good to have you to rely on. but obviously you're dr. fauci to me because who deserves more

respect than you do? that rate of lethality that scares people the most, how much of that is a function of available resources and healthcare in the places where it is more widespread than the united states? in other words, if we start getting it here, should we expect a lethality rate that high? >> you know, chris, i think we would expect something similar to that because we don't have an antiviral drug. i mean, the people who are dying who require intensive care, for example, in an intensive care unit, maybe even intubation for respiratory assistance and breathing, the chinese have that. they have a pretty good system. and yet you are still seeing the 2% mortality. so it isn't a question of they don't have as good care as we have. so if, in fact, we do get a pandemic that does impact us in this country, i think you're going to see comparable types of morbidity and mortality. we don't really think it is 2%

because the denominator of that number is probably larger than we think because there are many cases that are without symptoms. so it's probably lower than two. >> the cases you find out are the most serious cases and so those people are more likely to die. the president put out that there is going to be a vaccine any day. that's not true. and people should be worried. it's unexpected to be ready so there is no disappointment expected on that level. now you get sick. i'm sick right now and i'm walking into the airport and i'm sick and i'm using all these stupid symptomatic drugs and people say do you think it's coronavirus? what should people be looking for now that it is cold and flu season? >> statistically, it is far less likely to be coronavirus and far more likely to be common cold or flu. exponentially more likely. it can be hard to tell. the symptoms can be very similar. something that i think is interesting with coronavirus, and, again, in the united states

i think you really just don't have to worry about this right now. we are going to keep reporting on this. if there starts to be community pre spread, you're going to hear about it. the symptoms do tend to be more lower respiratory versus with cold and flu more upper respiratory. what does that mean? it means that you might have fever with both. you might have cough with both. but if you have sore throat, if you have runny nose, those are more upper respiratory. those are more likely to be cold or flu. so those types of symptoms can give you a little bit of an idea that it's not coronavirus. but again 57 people in this country, if you have any of these symptoms, it's not likely to be coronavirus. >> but, listen, i couldn't ask for better people than you. obviously i'll be checking back in. i've been slow on this. i do not like making people worried without reason. they have enough troubles in this country. dr. anthony fauci, thank you

very much. please keep us in the loop to keep this country as healthy as possible. sanjay as ualways, you are a plus. and i promise you i will report on it when the numbers are there, when there are things that don't seem right with the politics. but i don't want to get into this game where we start playing on the maybes rather than things that are reasonable certainties. i don't think it does us any good. now, we have enough real things that are happening right now to worry about like the ramifications of the concern. what's happening in the markets is that this was not a good day. i don't know why the president says these things. it was a bad day. it's two bad days in a row, and it's happening because of this and what the markets expect to happen next. the realities of election year economics are playing out right now. numbers that you need to know, next. improve our workflow. attract new customers. that's when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics

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trump's top economic adviser is larry kudlow. he is offering a twofold message for america on the coronavirus. he says it's, quote, very contained. that's true-ish because it hasn't really come here yet. and there likely won't be what he calls, quote, economic tragedy as a result. we are about to argue that is demonstrably false. let's get insight on that front. three questions with catherine rampell. good to have you. >> good to be here. >> now even if the coronavirus is not here in earnest, it is already affecting our markets, true? >> yes. true. well, certainly we've seen the markets fall 3% or more each day. >> we are basically looking at about five different levels of potential disruption. we see what the obvious thing is with stocks.

but the reason they're macroeconomic concerns, supply chains, why does that matter? >> basically it's now global economy, and the stuff that gets sold in the united states and even the stuff that is manufactured in the united states relies on things that are purchased abroad including in china. china represents 16% of global gdp, major ingredients that go into prescription drugs that are made and sold in the united states come from china. autoparts that are critical to u.s. auto manufacturers, they come from china. so all of those kinds of disruptions in the supply chain can affect american companies, american businesses, american consumers here. >> so to follow catherine's thinking there, disrupted manufacturing as she says. you cannot reduce travel, obviously. lack of confidence in political leadership, we are seeing that play out as we do almost every day. failing commodity prices. you will see that as a domnie effect of this. -- domnie effect. but it's going to affect even if

it isn't affecting us directly. that takes us to the next point. confidence. the markets love trading on fear. so this has given them a sense of anxiety, which is literally fear without focus. they don't have a reason to be that scared in the american system of health care right now, but they are going to do that anyway. so, when you look at that and you mix it with the political climate, what do you see? >> i think that markets are starting to realize that we may not have as little risk exposure as they had been expecting. a number of the estimates for how many people in china have gotten sick have been revised. you've seen companies like apple come out, although that happened a couple weeks ago, where they have said basically we face supply chain disruptions, we don't know how that's going to affect the rest of our business. but if americans do not have confidence in their public officials to adequately handle a potential outbreak, that can lead people to basically assume

the worst, which is why i think it is completely unhelpful for trump to tweet demonstrably false things like, hey, i looked at the markets and they look good to me, which is what he said yesterday. i think it's unhelpful for larry kudlow to go on tv and say things like we've seen no supply disruptions when apple had seen supply disruptions last week. >> they had to adjust their earnings report. >> and not just apple. there are lots and lots of businesses that said they are at risk. at the point that you have american officials going on tv and saying things that are obviously wrong, that can lead the public to think, h-mmm, maybe when they tell us don't panic, i should panic. an econist at u chicago, he had been an adviser in the obama administration, he has a useful rule of thumb that he has tweeted out, which is essentially that if you lose your credibility, the statements that you make can start to mean the opposite of what they intend

to. >> and you have trump saying there is going to be a vaccine around the corner. the most optimistic vaccines are a year away. the idea of what this means for stocks because to the extent that any of you are 401(k) sensitive, you see a thousand points go. you see another 900 points go. how big chunks in a market can people expect to see? >> if i knew the answer to that i would be a much richer woman. i think it really depends on the trajectory -- >> with a thousand points dropping today. five years ago it would've been a breaker. how big a deal is this? >> we've wiped out all of the gains we've seen so far this year in the market. we could see further declines. i don't know. you might see a reversal. if suddenly there is a resurgence in confidence, if in fact we have a miracle vaccine that's invented like that as trump seems to think we will, but the cdc or the nih and others have said otherwise. maybe you will see a turnaround.

or maybe as, let's say, we move into spring and the climate gets warmer or the weather gets warmer rather, then you will see less transmission of this virus. we just don't know at this point. we just have to watch and see how much disruption we get in china, in italy, in other countries that have been quarantining people and shutting down factories. >> even though it's not here in earnest, we're already feeling the effects. >> right. >> economically and our politics may dictate more of that to come. catherine, thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> thank you. so, look, it's real, and the politics in our current climate tend to add to any kind of malady we have. for example, should there be someone overseeing the coronavirus situation? what's going on at the cdc? there are some facts about how much money was asked for, when, where they want it to come from, what's happened to cuts in programs that we need right now that are part of the political

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him being upset that the cdc is giving you information about symptoms is political malpractice. his job is to make sure you're okay, not that his election is okay. republican mark wayne mullen is here. congressman, it's good to see you. i want to give the president the benefit of the doubt on something politically. i may have been unfair. i want to read a quote about what he said that is being taken out of context. i may have done the same thing. there's a very good chance you're not going to die with coronavirus. and god willing, i hope he's right. you are talking about 1 or 2%. that's higher than we deal with the common flu. we know that that's a big killer in this country. but in the other case, it was a virtual 100%. now i believe he was talking about ebola there. and it wasn't 100%. >> it was somewhere in the 50s, very scary, but not 100%. now they've studied it. in fact, we are very close to a

vaccine. i think he meant with ebola. and i think i took it out of context -- >> i agree. >> no, i know you're not saying it but i'm saying he was talking about coronavirus. i don't think he was. >> i don't think he was either. >> let's put that to the side. what i want to talk to you about is the responsibility of funding. he's asked for 2.5 billion as of monday. the briefings were over a month ago. why wait? >> well, i think the president's job is to do two things. one is to make sure he doesn't create panic inside the united states. i think that's why the president is saying what he's saying about basically the markets are strong, the markets are strong, but as you said earlier on the show, they trade on fear, they love fear. you can't control that, but the president can calm that down. he is calming people's nerves by not overreacting. and he studied this thoroughly.

i think the cdc and the administration has done a really great job on getting a grasp on this before they come to congress and overreact. what you see right now with our president asking for 1.25 billion, which will be a total by taking it out of other areas will be a total of 2.5 billion to combat it. you're seeing the president make a methodical and a good educated guess. because it is still a guess but it's an educated guess towards what they are going to need to combat this. >> question. let's deal with the number. you did a very generous account there of breaking it down. it is 1.25 billion and the rest is cuts. why cut such essential programs like headstart? you're going to cut it from one place to give it to another. >> no, it's taking money that we've appropriated to the cdc for other things. for instance, ebola, we are taking 538 -- i think it's 538, give or take. i know that sounds crazy, but i

think it's 538 million from the ebola account that we had money set aside, money that's not being used. >> that's fine. but one of the programs is headstart. headstart, they need every dollar they can get. why take money from that? >> i don't know the direct funding that the headstart money is coming from because the headstart also has different accounts. the crazy way that the government works is that we put money in silos and it doesn't work like a business where you can just take money and move it from here to here. so they're in different silo accounts. and they didn't specify which account it's taken out of. so it may be taken out of a building fund for headstart that they haven't used, for a project that was funded ten years ago and the project never took off but the money is still sitting there. you see the same thing happen with the dod. they didn't get specifics in that, chris. so i don't know exactly -- if you use head start as a general talking point, that sounds bad.

i don't think it's the president's intention to cut headstart funding. i think what it is is he is taking unused money and instead of asking congress for more money, he is saying why don't we just use that unused money and shift it over. i think it's a good move for the president. >> you can't hide anything with the cbo. we will find out what they did it when we have all the facts. but a little bit of this is getting cut short with making cuts. and one of the problems with making cuts is you never know how it's going to affect you until you get to the next cycle. george w. bush had a program about emerging disease threat that was shut down. on february 11th during the outbreak, the president proposed huge cuts to the cd of course and nih and that they pulled 39 of the 49 agencies where they worked to stop the spread of the disease. it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but now you don't have what you need where

you need it. >> you're always judging the taxpayer dollars. we're responsible for the taxpayer dollars and we want to spend them in the most responsible manner as possible. and i think the president is doing the same. and when any president makes the decision regardless if it's bush or if it's obama or if it's trump, they're all making the decision based on the information that they're receiving. now, any agency head is going to defend their agency why they need more money. but it's their ceo, it's the executive, it's our president that ultimately has to make that decision on what he's going to ask congress for and where he's going to use that money at. and it's like any business owner in business. in my company when i decide to use money here and i decide i'm going to invest in this area, but then all of a sudden we have a catastrophe and a job goes bad and i need to put money over there, i just shot myself in my own foot and i've got to go back and reassess.

that's the same thing the president is doing. >> that's about how dollars transplates into government policy. and then there is the politics of the situation. it could be that he doesn't want to spread panic. let's both be honest. that has not been his way. this president exaggerates problems on a regular basis. when he wanted money for the wall, he exaggerated problems that i know for a fact were grossly exaggerated watching them happen in realtime. now the concern is the concern, he's saying coronavirus, no big deal. the markets aren't great, they are not going to be affected by this. they are being affected by this. he is giving a message that i think is good for him politically, bad for the country. you know, you can make a political decision on anything you decide to do. we can sit here and debate the wall and the importance of it. i don't think the president is out of line. that's a different opinion on you because we make decisions

based on two things, the way we were raised and our life experiences. the president, i do believe, is making a decision trying to keep the markets calm and trying to keep people calm too. we've lost a lot more people to the flu this season than we have the coronavirus. >> absolutely. >> however, we don't understand the coronavirus. and we are by the cdc's own records saying that we are 12 to 18 months away from having a vaccination for it. we will start clinical trials coming this april. the president is doing the best he cann he can not to spread the fear. but what you're seeing inside the united states, 36 came off the cruise ship, you have 12 that had traveled abroad. you had three that came in from china. and you've had two, only two cases -- >> let's hope it stays like that. they don't expect it to, but hopefully they're prepared. what i'm saying is you don't want to play politics with this kind of stuff because pandemics

can be very scary. but he had his buddy limbaugh saying this was just the common cold. we both know it's not just the common cold. that's why i wanted to get your perspective -- >> it's more serious than that. >> and i wanted to get your perspective on the priority. and i'm happy to see that your priorities are in the right place. congressman markwayne mullin, we can talk politics all day, but this is about helping people and getting it right. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me on. >> always a pleasure to have markwayne mullin. and i wish him an early happy lent. today is fat tuesday, a week from super tuesday, god forbid you mix religion and politics. but it's an interesting thing for it to be fat tuesday with the debate they've been having tonight. the democrats are going at each other like i have never seen before. why? because bernie sanders is breaking away. he's living the fattest p.h.a.t.

on fat tuesday. what is it going to look like this weekend? at what point is going to be too big? the wizard of odds with the numbers, next. knowing you're on the right path isn't always easy. that's why it's important to be prepared for anything life brings. at fidelity, we'll help you build a clear plan for retirement. one that covers health care costs, taxes, and any other uncertainties while still giving you the flexibility to make changes to your plan as often as you need. because when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. ♪ here's wishing you the bluest sky ♪

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there's a debate going on right now. you see the gang holding onto these reigns. there is no controlling them. why? bernie sanders is the frontrunner, and they are all out to get him. the field i crowded and crazed. now, what is the reality of bernie sanders? there are ways of looking at it not through the lens of what you see on a debate stage. the numbers, hence, the wizard of odds. good to see you, brother, as always. so here's the state of play. >> yes. >> now why does he have a seven in ten chance? >> so essentially what we know

over tim is i went back and looked at essentially how the national polls projected out to how the final votes came out. and of course on the democratic side it's proportional allocation. the personal of delegates is the percentage of vote as long as you're above 15%. and given how much he's gone up in the polls, essentially that calculation leads to him having a seven in ten shot of him. but overall it's very clear that he is the favorite to win the most amount of delegates. >> one of the only positions i've seen him change quickly is in 2016 he said i don't know that a plurality is enough. you should go into the convention and talk about it when he was close with hillary clinton. >> what a surprise, right? >> now he says plurality is enough. south carolina's such a huge test for two reasons. one you've got the diversity argument. but as i just said two of the best are holding the reigns like this because the democrats are

all over sanders and one another. he's never been attacked like this. that could make a difference. so give me this set of numbers here in the context of these voters in south carolina in their home state are watching him get beat up in a way they never have. >> absolutely true. and the key thing about south carolina about why this can perhaps turn this race around is look who the leader is in south carolina. it's joe biden who is leading with 30%. sanders is back at 23%. steyer at 13%. but i think this is rather key. if this is a place to stop bernie sanders, it is south carolina. you have to stop him in south carolina. why do you have to stop him? south carolina? because if you don't stop him in south carolina, then essentially what you're going to see on super tuesday, you have 34% of the delegates are awarded on super tuesday. given what we know about sanders' lead in the national polls right now. if you do not stop him in south carolina, that essentially means he is going to carry through that momentum to super tuesday.

>> so winning matters. one of the tried but true statements, it changes media narratives. this number 30/23. in the context of stopping him, what does the race have to look like for him to seem stopped in south carolina? >> well, i think -- look, joe biden needs to win. i mean that's the bottom line. >> what if he wins by three? >> it's really about media expectations, i got to be honest with you. it's about the way that the media plays it. is a three-point win going to be enough to say joe biden is back? i'll show you an example of a time when south carolina did change the race and why i'm so interested in it. back in 2008 before obama won south carolina, look at the national polls. clinton, 42, obama 33. after obama wins south carolina, look at that switch. if we get that same type of switch this year, it could in fact change the entire dynamic of the primary. >> thank you always. >> shalom.

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the united i liexplorer card. makes things easy. traveling lighter. taking a shortcut. woooo! taking a breather. rewarded! learn more at the explorer card dot com. big lesson out of 2016 is that donald trump wasn't just the right man for the right moment. but for the right movement. don't sleep on a movement. bernie sanders is the only democrat with a real movement behind him. so, why are democrats so worried about him? congressman roe cona, a sanders' campaign co-chair joins me now. welcome back to "prime time." a little bit of it is the smell of desperation, but they are putting a beatdown on bernie, if they can. but they're all in unison. you're too extreme, you're too scary. you got the problem right but your solutions are going to

destroy us. why so worried? >> you know, bernie sanders has been hearing this for 40 years. that's why he's not phased by any of the attacks. he's used to being the outsider. he's used to being attacked. but the reality is he is the one who is talking about improving people's lives. it's not rocket science why he's doing well. he is saying i am going to get rid of the student loans. i am going to give you healthcare. i am going to give you a pay raise. i am going to make sure your kids can go to college. and that's why he's winning. he's actually talking about making people's lives better. >> all right. so let's do this in three steps. plus, minus, and then a political problem. the plus like the song from the producers. what's he got that they ain't got? >> he's got a movement, as you pointed out. he's got real people on the ground who are willing to knock on doors, who are willing to call their neighbors. and this makes a big difference in super tuesday. you don't have enough money unless you're michael bloomberg

to hire staff. he actually has organic people organizing in the biggest states. >> so, ro khanna, armed services committee, oversight committee, budget committee. sanders is nowhere close to paying for any of the promises. and nowhere close to compromising on any of the things he wants to get done. how does that wrk out in politics? >> he has a vision of where he wants to go. he proposed tax increases on the rich. on corporations. had posed cuts on defense. and proposed cuts on the foreign wars that would save trillions of dollars. >> still doesn't get him close. >> depends on what you're looking at. medicare for all he's got a plan to pay for that. >> not for all of it.

he uses the study now the yale study that shows the spending. people roll their eyes and hear about fraud and waste being something that will be taken out that will make it better because government means fraud and waste. the piece of paper last night gets him about half way there. how do you get the rest of the half? >> even the economists others who crunch the numbers say you can get there by raising taxes on the rich. by having a tax on payroll tax on employers. you don't have to take my word for it. look at the economists. there's a way to pay for it. >> there's a lot of other spending. even when you take care of medicare there's 30 trillion in spending. you have to pay for and are you worried there's a political cost? >> i don't think there's the cost of saying we're going to

get out of the bad wars and military increases. in the debate tonight bloomberg said i endorse trumps military budget increase. that's $120 billion. you know what we could do with that? pay for free public college for every person in the country. school lunch and improved medicare: including hearing aids. there are ways to pay for these making choices. >> there's a political cost to the earlier question. god forbid something happens and the military says we weren't prepared. here's the new boogy man. it's not just his ideas, it's his style. democrats this is not coming out of my mouth. i have a long relationship with the senator. he's an equal opposite trump. he hates the media. he will not work with anybody and beat down his opponents. he's in inflexible. he doesn't do criminal things.

but just as inflexible as trump. response? >> you know that's not true. you have spent time with him. >> i'm biassed on this. this is what the people are saying. running against him. >> that's just not credible. they all would respect the rule of law. sanders has done numerous media interviews. he's accessible. he has a point of view and courage of convictions. he's open to intellectual. i disagree with -- i get all the frantic e-mails from staff. he's fine with it. >> i appreciate you making the case. you're always welcome. >> you're always fair to him. i appreciate it. >> last debate before super-tuesday and sanders is taking it. bloomberg too. we'll catch you up on the highlights. next.

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listen. there's been no debate that mattered like the one tonight for the democrats. we have been monitoring it in south carolina. if the game doesn't change in south carolina with the diversity and bigger field. you have super-tuesday. that's it. especially for bernie sanders. i have lil ri rosen here. hilary rosen here. it's not about us but two moderators against the desperate democrats. tough to control it. that's the sign of desperation. who rose who fell? >> they did a good job. right out of the gate you saw bloomberg and warren both go after bernie. and i think that that was what people came into this debate to do. was to sort of knock him off his game. be did it with the trump attack saying russia is trying

to get you to be the opponent of donald trump because they want trump to be president. bernie didn't respond to that. warren said what i think over the course of the next few weeks will be a more important criticism. for her. she said i agree with bernie on policy. he just can't get things done and i can. >> she moved away from positions she used to hold. or dicey. what has she gotten done? >> i'm not sure what you mean. she moved away -- >> she was much more bernie like in terms of policy positions. she moved away from them. >> i think when she got confronted on medicare for all and what it would cost she said how it would work, she said look we'll have a transition period. and it's going to cost money. we'll have to figure it out. which is actual truth.

bernie has gotten away with not talking about it. >> he never changes. >> i think she called him on that a bit tonight and what she was saying was the consumer finance protection board and the legislation. she has been a legislator than bernie. >> klobuchar said when you measure senators i'm in the top part. warren and bernie in dead last. how does that play? >> i think that warren and sometimes has the most credibility with the bernie supporters on policy. and that's why i think her first time going after him was important. for her to get into the top tier. klobuchar she's trying to push her way in. she's great but -- >> this was tough. >> hard to make mark for her. >> they were openly ignoring the rules. it's not about us. the moderators can do so much.

the people are there to listen to the candidates. even joe biden said the way it works is ignore the time queue and talk as long as he can. he came out fairly strong. maintained as long as i could watch. how did he finish? >> good applause. he was strong. he didn't give up his time. he was aggressive. he made people remember why he was strong in south carolina. >> can he win enough in south carolina? >> he said when somebody said what are you going -- >> i will win. >> that was a big thing. >> that could be two points. what does it have to be for biden to be real? >> i don't know. he has to get enough more delegates than bernie gets to kind of catch up to him. >> also i guess part of the answer is depend what i say about it. and are we impressed by the level. >> is he going to split the delegates with bernie in south carolina or split two or three

ways with steyer and warren. >> great point. he spent so much money there. >> we have complete coverage with the a team. anderson cooper has them right now. >> good evening. welcome to a special edition of 360. the final democratic debate before the south carolina primary and super-tuesday is history. the decisive moment of the race and something of a brawl. sanders taking big hits firing back. bloomberg confronted about his past. biden erupted at points tonight. we saw klobuchar, warren and buttigieg trying to stand aside from at least some of the combat while still swinging. debate spanned a lot of issues and some have never been raised. from coronavirus to that naked

cowboy in new york times square. the debate site joining us here. also endorsed sanders. let's go to erin burnett. andrew yang i have to start with you. what you make of tonight? >> the tone was harsh and argumentative. which made for a not debate. it was a great night for joe biden. he has been stronger since he got to south carolina. he predicted a win. he may win this weekend. the endorsement coming tomorrow will be a big difference maker. if joe does win south carolina we could be looking at a competitive race. >> i agree biden had a good

night. he lapses into the get off my lawn demeanor at times and wining about timing. he was energetic which is sometimes a problem. he was strong and he needed to be to hold serve in south carolina. he is in first place. sanders is speaking up on him. sanders is the front runner he's the first time we have seen him in the set. that center left and by and large i think he handled the attacks well. but for the question about socialism and socialist regime. you started this with a question you asked on 60 minutes. >> i hardly started it. >> you started it, anderson. he lapsed into this strange 60s, 70s kind of back thing in his brain about u.s. intervention in that era and it sounded like he was attacking the u.s. and defending the socialist are

regimes. that's the answer that gives people concern about what he would do as the nominee of the party. >> the debate was set up for bad bloomberg jokes. and i think bloomberg was not as bad as he was the first time. so i think he kind of helped himself a touch. not tremendously. i agree biden was much better and sanders can't answer these questions about castro and foreign policy. i think however the candidates generally were not well served by the debate itself. i think that there were points that unfortunately the moderators lost control of the debate. any sort of moments that could have had for decent statement and somebody responding to a statement that was made about them just kind of erupted into free for alls. >> there were times there were two people, candidates talking.

repeatedly at the same time. >> exactly. of course every candidate there was thinking uh-oh i have to do well here. this could be it for me. except for bernie maybe. you know the stakes. it's difficult to be a moderators in this case. but you need to control it. it was out of control. as a viewer and you can't -- >> warren picked up where she left off. in pummelling bloomberg over and over again. some people may think she went too far with really going into detail about some of the allegations that have been lodged against bloomberg in terms of treatment of pregnant women. >> which he denies. >> and denied that. that was interesting. she's going after progressive voters who really, really can't stand bloomberg and she wants to be the foil to bloomberg on

stage. i thought it was interesting her going after a sanders in way we haven't seen. she said on stage that she agrees with sanders on many things. but thinks she would make a better president. the reason she thinks she would make a better president is because she is detald oriented and dug in on particular issues and gotten stuff done. that's a preview to what we'll see in terps of warren going after sanders. she knows her path to the nomination to victory in the states has to sanders and the progressive base. >> biden timing is everything. in politics. biden found his footing a little bit. you could feel he was comfortable there and did some stuff that -- he's probably on his path way to victory in south carolina and knows it. he did really well. bloomberg made a lot of bad jokes. he was not a bad joke. last week he was the joke. this time he made a bunch of

corny jokes. had he blown himself up. >> progress. >> he would be talking about him getting out of the race. he hangs on to the bottom of the ladder and stays in the race. i was disappointed with bernie's answer on the socialism question. he had to know it was coming. there's no reason to do a big scream fest about authoritarian regimes from the 70s. it was an opportunity for him to clarify to the people when he says democratic socialism that's the point it's not from cuba. it's the stuff in northern europe that's working. he failed to do it. he didn't do it tonight. >> he has a refrain that i think

is actually one that he i thought he was going to use tonight. he used it in the interview where he says what donald trump is a socialist. a corporate socialist who got $800 million in tax breaks when he was a private citizen. and wants to give it to corporations. i want to give the breaks to the working class. from what i missed part of it. to me that's an effective argument he makes. >> i agree. i want to step back, if you're a viewer and getting to the race, which let's not forget most are. you are deeply poorly served by the debate. it got super in the process. a lot of conversations that is fixation on the filler buster. a lot of folks don't understand. folks were not well served by the debate. the formatt and questions. we didn't get into coronavirus. which is leading the head license. the question about bernie, he hit his points about what democratic socialism means to him.

i do agree that this is a line of attack that will continue to come. when you think about where we stand in the conversation that we're having as a country about who we want to be president of the united states, i just don't know how much fear mongering about this issue will matter when you're talking to voters who are fatesing the fact they don't have access to good healthcare. worrying about whether or not the economy is left them behind and they will be able to have access to it or their kids. i think it's easy to focus on this one issue because it's in the headline. i don't know it resonates as much as we think it does. >> to me it's interesting this hasn't been in the headline as much as donald trump is going to make it be in the headlines. which is why i think it's wise that it's brought up now to either he addresses it or not. do you think this is an issue that will continue? >> yeah.

i think donald trump is going to go hard negative on whoever the nominee is that will obviously be a line of attack he uses on sanders. it will be a similar line of attack on any of the democratic nominee. i don't know exactly how much of a sanders problem it is or maybe the republicans are making this word a meaningless one anyway. by calling every democrat one. it was a difficult and frustrating debate which is where we are in terms of the democratic primary process. so if you're coming in it was a decent entry point to the way the content is going. >> did they intentionally model -- >> it was -- they were trying to mimic the actual feeling of being one of us and they did a brilliant job. >> it was cohosted by twitter. >> that makes perfect sense. if bloomberg had spent as much time on stop frisk instead of

the naked cowboy joke. he could have redeemed himself. i didn't see him being the same punch line. but he didn't do himself any favors or winning back voters. >> he wasn't an embarrassment to himself. >> he was a different embarrassment. >> the thing that struck me, particularly on the answers on cuba and digging himself a deeper hole. is that sanders is a bulldozer. who just -- >> a fortress. >> mount bernie. you keep ask him and he will never change his position. keep coming at me. you just. >> i have been there. he has a force field. everything you say it's like let me be clear. i'm going to talk about what i'm going to talk about. it's not really going to be what you ask me about.

i'll go into a bernieism. what just happened there. >> there's no way to get him off it. the question about cuba. he will continue to give that answer that he gave to you. that he'll give it again tonight. and then dig himself a deeper hole and did it in the town hall. >> people are focusing on what he said about castro in the 1980s. but bloomberg a couple of weeks ago said that the dictator of china is not a dictator. nobody seems to have -- >> bernie picked up on that. >> the republicans and donald trump will make the same case against any democratic candidate. it's easier to make when the candidate embraces the title of socialist and doesn't refute it. sanders is not a socialist. if you look it up in the dictionary, he's not calling for

the society own the production and all that stuff. why he is so reluctant to make that point and why -- he is like a fortress. but not on that question tonight. he looked -- it shouldn't necessarily be the most important question, they will make it the most important question until he makes it a less important question by straightening it out. the flip side of that is he's also a guy who deeply believes in things. he speaks aspirationally. his close reflected that. when he talked about what he thinks america should be. and the goals we should set ourselves to that speak to the lives of every day people. and anyone who under estimates the power of that is missing something. >> let's be clear. he comes into this debate as the front runner in the race. and the question of what this debate did to this race, it's

clear to your point that the fact that warren decided to attack him signals something about her recognizing her path way has to run through his lane and try to take votes away. i don't know this debate did much to knock him off the front runner spot. >> he's so far down the track at this point. in terms of collecting delegates and looking strong for super-tuesday. looking strong in south carolina too. i think biden came in strong with south carolina. he's going to connect with voters and get this cli burn endorsement. he wants to nominate a black women to the streupreme court. i think a lot of people look at this the last many months they have been looking past sanders. he did have a heart attack. was that going to weaken him. it didn't. it seemed to make him stronger. for warren