(Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that Russia is helping get Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the Democratic presidential race, because Vladimir Putin thinks President Donald Trump can beat him and will be a better president than Sanders.



During the CBS News Democratic presidential debate in Charleston, S.C., Sanders was asked how he will convince voters that a Democratic socialist can do better than Trump with the economy given the record low unemployment rate.







“Well, you're right. The economy is doing really great for people like Mr. Bloomberg and other billionaires. In the last three years, last three years, billionaires in this country saw an $850 billion increase in their wealth, but you know what? For the ordinary American, things are not so good. Last year, real wage increases for the average worker were less than 1%,” Sanders said.



“Half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. Eighty-seven million Americans have no health insurance or are under-insured. Forty-five million people are struggling with student debt. Five hundred thousand people tonight are sleeping out on the street, including 30,000 veterans. That is not an economy that's working for the American people. That's an economy working for the 1%. We're going to create an economy for all, not just wealthy campaign contributors,” the senator said.



When asked whether Sanders’ economy would be better for America than Trump’s, Bloomberg said, “I think Donald Trump thinks it would be better if he's president. I do not think so. Vladimir Putin thinks that Donald Trump should be president of the United States, and that's why Russia is helping you get elected, so you’ll lose to him.”



Sanders responded by addressing Putin, saying, “‘Let me tell Mr. Putin, okay, I'm not a good friend of President Xi of China. I think President XI is an authoritarian leader, and let me tell Mr. Putin, who interfered in the 2016 election: Try to bring Americans against Americans. Hey, Mr. Putin, if I'm president of the United States, trust me, you're not going to interfere in any more American elections.”





Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): So, look, the way I see this is that Bernie is winning right now because the Democratic Party is a Progressive party, and Progressive ideas are popular ideas, even if there are a lot of people on this stage who don't want to say so. Un, but, Bernie and I agree on a lot of things, but I think I would make a better president than Bernie, and the reason for that is that getting a Progressive agenda enacted is going to be really hard, and it's going to take someone who digs into the details to make it happen.



Bernie and I both wanted to help reign in Wall Street. In 2008, we both got our chance, but I dug in, and I fought the big banks. I built the coalitions, and I won. Bernie and I both want to see universal health care. But Bernie's plan doesn't explain how to get there, doesn't show how we're going to get enough allies into it and doesn't show enough about how we're going to pay for it.



I dug in. I did the work. And then Bernie's team trashed me for it. We need a president who is going to dig in, do the hard work, and actually get it done. Progressives have got one shot, and we need to spend it with a leader who will get something done.





