Warren: Sanders said in 2018 meeting a woman could not win the White
House
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[January 14, 2020]
By Amanda Becker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Elizabeth Warren
took the unusual step on Monday of confirming a report that fellow
Democratic White House contender Bernie Sanders told her during a 2018
meeting that he did not believe a woman could win the 2020 presidential
race.
Warren and Sanders are fellow U.S. senators, friends and their party's
progressive standard-bearers who agreed early in the nominating contest
to an informal non-aggression pact.
But amid escalating tensions between the two rivals and with the first
nominating contest looming in early February, Warren pushed back against
Sanders' denial of a CNN report detailing the meeting in which he told
her he did not believe a woman could beat Republican President Donald
Trump.
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"I thought a woman could win; he disagreed," Warren, a U.S. senator from
Massachusetts, said in a statement released late on Monday describing
the two-hour meeting in December 2018.
In its report on the meeting, CNN cited four people with knowledge of
it, including two with whom Warren spoke about it soon after and another
two who were familiar with what happened at the meeting.
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, told CNN it was "ludicrous" that
he would tell Warren a woman could not win. "What I did say that night
was that Donald Trump is a sexist, a racist and a liar who would
weaponize whatever he could," he added.
Sanders' campaign did not immediately respond to a request to comment on
Warren's confirmation of the CNN account.
"I have no interest in discussing this private meeting any further
because Bernie and I have far more in common than our differences in
punditry," Warren said.
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![](../images/011420pics/news_d7.jpg)
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidates U.S. Senator Bernie
Sanders (L) and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren during the first night
of the second 2020 Democratic U.S. presidential debate in Detroit,
Michigan, July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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The tussle between the two progressive senators is the second in as
many days after Politico reported on Sunday that Sanders' campaign
had distributed talking points for volunteers on what to say to
voters who are thinking of supporting his main rivals.
The guidance suggested that volunteers argue that Warren was
supported by "highly-educated, more affluent people who are going to
show up and vote Democratic no matter what." In response, Warren,
while campaigning in Iowa, said she was "disappointed" in Sanders'
campaign and hoped he reconsidered the approach.
Sanders said he had not approved the negative talking points related
to his Democratic rivals.
Warren and Sanders are among the six candidates who will face off on
Tuesday in the seventh Democratic presidential debate, and the last
before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, which kick off the state nominating
contests. There are 12 candidates currently vying for the party's
nomination to take on Trump in November. National opinion polls show
Warren in the top tier but trailing Sanders and former Vice
President Joe Biden.
(Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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