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Candidates and longtime friends trade angry remarks before Tom Steyer offers an awkward hello

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

CNN has released the audio of the testy exchange between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders that took place following Tuesday’s Democratic debate.

After the debate wrapped, Bernie Sanders outstretched his hand to Elizabeth Warren. Warren did not take it, and the two progressive candidates, who until recently have avoided criticizing each other publicly, exchanged words – which until now were inaudible.

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On Wednesday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper released audio of the conversation.

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

“Let’s not do it right now,” Sanders responded. “You called me a liar.”

Meanwhile, Tom Steyer, caught awkwardly between the longtime friends and colleagues, said: “I don’t want to get in the middle ... I just wanted to say hi, Bernie.”

“Yeah, OK. Good,” Sanders said.

Tuesday’s debate, the final one before the Iowa caucuses next month, deepened the schism between the two over a report that claimed Sanders told Warren during a private meeting in 2018 he did not think a woman could win the 2020 election.

Sanders has vehemently denied that he said it. Warren released a statement that contradicted him.

In a statement on Monday evening, Warren, recalling the meeting, said: “Among the topics that came up was what would happen if Democrats nominated a female candidate. I thought a woman could win; he disagreed. I have no interest in discussing this private meeting any further because Bernie and I have far more in common than our differences on punditry.”

During Tuesday’s debate, the CNN moderator Abby Phillip asked Sanders to respond.

“Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t say it,” Sanders said.

Warren said she “disagreed” with Sanders that a woman couldn’t win, pointing out that she was the only candidate on stage who had beaten an incumbent Republican in the past 30 years. “Look at the men on the stage – collectively they’ve lost 10 elections,” she added.

Following the debate, progressive activists worried that escalating tension between Warren and Sanders could divide liberals. One activist and writer used a Lord of the Rings analogy. “Frodo and Samwise are approaching Mt Doom, and instead of finishing the darn mission they’re fighting each other when at the end of the day we need to defeat Sauron,” said Julian Brave NoiseCat, a Guardian contributor and strategist for the thinktank Data for Progress, in an interview with Democracy Now.

Sanders’ wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, downplayed lasting repercussions of the rift. “The message is unity,” she told the Associated Press. “We’re not going to go into that realm. We’re just not going to play that game.”

Neither Warren’s nor Sanders’ campaign responded immediately to a request for comment on the new audio.