Democratic candidates traded barbs and attacks but agreed Trump should be impeached

WASHINGTON -- Democrats clashed over taxes, health care and the direction of the party during a fast-paced debate in Atlanta on Wednesday, but the candidates agreed on the need to impeach President Donald Trump.

Airing after an hours-long public impeachment inquiry hearing on Capitol Hill, the candidates were immediately asked about the president and the bombshell testimony from Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, that Trump had created a “quid pro quo” scenario with Ukraine.

“We have a criminal in the White House,” Kalama Harris said.

“The president felt free to break the law again and again and again and that is what has happened with Ukraine,” Elizabeth Warren argued. “We have to establish the principle (that) no one is above the law.”

Trump has always cast a long shadow over the debates, but it was particularly true Wednesday as Americans continued to process hours of lengthy testimony delving into the ins and outs of Trump’s Ukraine scandal. That rub was clearly on display as the candidates attempted to break through wall-to-wall impeachment hearings coverage to elevate their own proposals.

“We cannot simply be consumed by Donald Trump because if we are, you know what? We're going to lose the election,” Bernie Sanders said.

A Biden moment: Biden said you have to 'keep punching' to address domestic violence

Is Tulsi a Democrat?: Gabbard prompts a brawl with Kamala Harris

The debate came during what is potentially a reshuffling of the field, as Pete Buttigieg has surged in Iowa polling and the candidates have confronted the possibility of new challengers. Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor, is in the race but was not on stage. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering a bid and is ready to spend millions.

The debate was the first since Buttigieg has zoomed ahead in polling, but there was little sign initially that his higher status put a target on his back. There were few direct attacks on him during the first hour, and, at one point, Harris declined an opportunity to weigh into a controversy involving a stock image of a Kenyan woman on his website promoting a plan to address racial inequality.

That changed as the debate neared its conclusion as Tulsi Gabbard and Amy Klobuchar questioned his experience for the job.

Buttigieg, whose rise has reportedly unnerved his more experienced rivals, was asked why Democrats should take a risk on someone who has only been elected to a small city.

Buttigieg said that South Bend, Ind., might not look big to people in Washington. But, he added, “where we live, the infighting on Capitol Hill looks small.”

On taxes, Warren began by touting her two-cent on the dollar tax on assets over $50 million.

"I’m tired of freeloading billionaires," Warren said.

Booker criticized the plan, calling it "cumbersome.”

Health care, an issue that has divided the field, was once again an early debate topic. Sanders and Warren defended their “Medicare for All” system while Buttigieg and Biden argued people shouldn’t be forced onto one government-run plan.

“The vast majority of Democrats don’t support Medicare for All,” Biden said, asserting that it couldn’t pass the Democrat-controlled House. The next debate will take place Dec. 19 in Los Angeles.

Another Biden gaffe

Biden touted his support from African Americans, one of the reasons he’s leading the field in South Carolina while lagging behind the other frontrunners in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“I have more people supporting me in the black community,” Biden said, adding that he was endorsed by the only African-American woman that has ever been elected to the Senate.

“That’s not true,” both Booker and Harris interjected.

“The other one is here,” Harris said of herself.

Biden was likely referring to Carol Moseley Braun, the first African American woman elected to the Senate. The Illinois woman served a single term in the Senate during the 1990s. As the stage erupted, Biden corrected himself to say the “first” African American woman.

Gabbard and Buttigieg squabble over ‘experience’

Things got testy between Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg during a lengthy exchange about what kind of experience is needed to be president.

When Buttigieg suggested his military service prepared him to be commander in chief, the Hawaii congresswoman slammed him for saying this week he was open to sending troops to Mexico to fight drug cartels under certain circumstances.

Buttigieg said Gabbard was taking his remarks out of context and then swiped back at her for meeting in 2017 with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians in the country’s civil war.

"If you're talking about experience, let's talk about judgment," Buttigieg said. “I would not have sat down with a murderous dictator like that.”

Gabbard fired back, saying Buttigieg lacks the “courage” to sit down with the nation’s adversaries.

-Michael Collins and John Fritze

Can there be anti-abortion Democrats?

Two days after an association of Democratic state attorneys general became the first national party committee to impose an explicit abortion litmus test on its candidates, Warren was asked whether there’s room in the party for those who oppose abortion.

Saying abortion rights are human rights and economic rights, Warren said they’re fundamental to what the party stands for.

She was pressed on whether the party should exclude recently-re-elected Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards who has signed anti-abortion legislation.

“I have made clear what I think the party stands for,” Warren said. “I’m not here to try to drive anyone out of the party.”

Klobuchar said she can’t wait to be in a debate with Trump and tell him that 70% of the public support Roe v. Wade.

“He is off the track on this and he will hear from the women of America and this is how we’re going to win this election,” she said.

Booker related abortion rights to voter suppression, saying it was voter suppression in Georgia that led to the election of a governor who supported anti-abortion legislation.

- Maureen Groppe

Booker to Biden: Were you high?

Cory Booker slammed Joe Biden for saying this week that he would not support legalizing marijuana, tying it to the disproportionate effect drug laws have had on communities of color. African Americans have faced a harsher application of those laws than white Americans.

“I thought you might have been high when you said it,” Booker said Biden.

Biden said he supports decriminalizing marijuana, but said Americans should study the long-term effects of the drug before legalizing it. That view has put him at odds with a significant share of voters of both parties, polls show.

- John Fritze

A response that shouldn’t have been punched up

Biden’s response to how he would address domestic violence drew laughter for his unfortunate choice of words at the end of his response.

The former vice president was on firm ground when he began his answer by reminding the audience that he authored legislation to address violence against women.

He then argued that “No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman in anger other than in self-defense, and that rarely ever occurs.”

“So we have to just change the culture, period,” Biden said. “And keep punching at it and punching it and punching at it.”

- Maureen Groppe

'President' Yang to Putin: ‘Sorry I beat your guy’

Andrew Yang got a good laugh – and applause – when asked what, if elected president, he would say in his first call to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“At first, I’d say I’m sorry I beat your guy,” Yang said.

Then he quickly added: “Sorry, not sorry.”

-Michael Collins

Who would more aggressively take on climate change?

Biden and Sanders took issue with Steyer’s claim to be the only candidate who would make addressing climate change his No. 1 as president. Steyer said he would declare a state of emergency over the issue on Day One and would also make it the top priority of his foreign policy.

“If it isn’t Priority One,” Steyer said, “it’s not going to get done.”

“I don’t need a lecture from my friend,” Biden interjected. He said that while he was working in the Obama administration on efforts to address climate change, Steyer was introducing more coal mines around the world.

“I welcome him back in the fold here,” Biden said.

Sanders said he’s introduced legislation to declare climate change a national emergency and the government may also have to prosecute the fossil fuel industry for lying about how their product affects the planet.

- Maureen Groppe

Kamala Harris: Trump got ‘punked’

Kamala Harris didn’t mince words as she went on the attack over Donald Trump’s policy in North Korea following reports that Kim Jong Un has no interest in another summit with the president.

“Donald Trump got punked,” Harris said. “He has traded a photo-op for nothing.”

Would she make additional concessions to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table? No, Harris responded.

Noting that Trump inherited North Korea’s nuclear weapons program from the Obama administration – and other past administrations – Biden was asked how he would handle the issue differently from Obama. Biden pivoted to compare his approach to Trump’s, saying he would work to rebuild U.S. alliances with allies in the region.

- John Fritze

Booker: ‘The other Rhodes Scholar mayor’

Cory Booker used a question about how he would unify the country to get in a subtle dig at Pete Buttigieg.

Asked how he would bring the country together if he is president, Booker said the nation achieves great things “when we stand together and work together.” He went on to cite his work as mayor of Newark, N.J., as an example.

“I happen to be the other Rhodes Scholar mayor on the stage,” Booker declared.

The quip was a clear reference to Buttigieg, the South Bend, Ind., mayor who has overshadowed Booker and other Democratic candidates for much of the campaign.

Buttigieg’s rise – some polls put in him in firsts place in Iowa and New Hampshire – has rankled some of his Democratic rivals. The New York Times recently reported that some candidates resent the attention and the campaign donations that have flowed Mayor Pete’s way.

- Michael Collins

Lock ‘him’ up?

Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden offered subtly different answers over whether they believe Donald Trump should be prosecuted after his time in the White House is over.

Sanders argued that no one is above the law and that, in his view, the president had obstructed justice and had committed other crimes.

Biden said he would leave that decision to his Justice Department and that Democrats shouldn’t go down the path of chanting “lock him up,” a reference to a refrain often sounded at Trump campaign rallies about Hillary Clinton. That chant has been heard at Sanders rallies, Maddow said.

“I would not direct my Justice Department like this president does,” Biden said, “I would not dictate who would be prosecuted.”

Sanders said he agreed with that part.

“I think Joe is right,” Sanders said, but then added: “What I am of the opinion of is that the American people now do believe that we have a president who thinks he’s above the law.”

- John Fritze

Buttigieg and Klobuchar discuss gender, experience expectations

Buttigieg, whose recent surged in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire has reportedly annoyed his more experienced rivals, was asked why Democrats should take a risk on someone who has only been elected to a small city.

Buttigieg said South Bend, Ind., might not look big to people in Washington. But, he added, “where we live, the infighting on Capitol Hill looks small.”

He argued that he can go toe-to-toe with Trump because he comes from the kind of Rust Belt community that Trump is appealing to, his military experience and knows how to bring people together to get things done.

A moderator followed up by asking Klobuchar about her recent comment that a female candidate with Buttigieg’s experience probably would not have made it to the debate stage.

First saying that she believes Buttigieg is qualified to be at the debate, she reiterated her belief that women candidates are held to a different standard. Otherwise, she quipped, people would be able to play the game “Name Your Favorite Woman President.”

“Which we can’t do,” she said, adding that female candidates, “have to work harder, and that’s a fact.”

But if voters worry that a woman can’t beat Trump, she concluded, “Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”

- Maureen Groppe

Gabbard prompts a brawl over party policy

It started with Tulsi Gabbard taking another swipe at the Clintons.

It ended with a broader debate about the future of Democratic foreign policy and whether, as Tulsi claims, the party needs to break with the past.

Asked to explain a Twitter firestorm between Gabbard and Hillary Clinton last month, Gabbard said that the party needs to break away from the “Bush-Clinton-Trump” foreign policy that she described as being driven by “greedy corporate interests.”

That drew a response from Kamala Harris, who accused Gabbard of spending “four years on Fox News criticizing Obama.”

“What we need on this stage,” Harris said, “is someone who has the ability to win.”

Gabbard said that Harris continued to “traffic in lies and smears and inuendoes because she cannot challenge the substance of the argument that I'm making, the leadership and the change that I am seeking to bring."

What started it? Hillary Clinton’s comments to a podcast last month were initially erroneously reported as her saying Russians appeared to be "grooming" Gabbard. Clinton had actually said it was the Republicans who were "grooming" Gabbard and that Gabbard was a "favorite of the Russians."

On Oct. 18, Gabbard shot back on Twitter, calling Clinton the "queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long."

-- John Fritze and Nicholas Wu

Bernie redux: ‘I wrote the damn bill’

Sen. Bernie Sanders recycled one of his biggest applause lines from a previous debate during a discussion on health care.

After Elizabeth Warren talked about the need to reform the nation’s health care system and touted the benefits of Medicare for All, the debate moderators gave Sanders a chance to respond.

“Thank you,” Sanders quipped. “I wrote the damn bill.”

It was a line that Sanders first rolled out during a debate in July in Detroit when challenged about the details of his healthcare plan.

- Michael Collins

Medicare for All versus a public option

Health care, an issue that has divided the field, was once again an early debate topic. Sanders and Warren defended their “Medicare for all” approach while Buttigieg and Biden argued people shouldn’t be forced into one government-run plan.

“The vast majority of Democrats don’t support Medicare for All,” Biden said, asserting that it couldn’t pass the Democrat-controlled House.

President Barack Obama recently warned fellow Democrats that “this is still a country that is less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement.”

Asked about that in the context of Medicare for All, Sanders said Obama is right that “we don’t have to tear down the system.” But Washington does need to deliver on what the public wants, and people understand the health care system is “not only cruel, but dysfunctional,” he said.

- Maureen Groppe

Booker, Warren battle over 'wealth tax’

In past debates, Democrats opened with a lengthy exchange on health care – an issue that has divided centrists and liberals in the fields for months.

This time, the candidates had a longer-than-usual debate on taxes.

Elizabeth Warren began by touting her two-cent tax on the wealthiest Americans.

"I’m tired of freeloading billionaires," Warren said.

What's Warren's plan?: Elizabeth Warren willing to show Bill Gates how much she'd tax him: 'I promise it's not $100 billion'

"Our government is working better and better for the billionaires," she said, "and worse and worse for everyone else."

The argument drew a quick rebuttal from Cory Booker, who called Warren’s plan "cumbersome.'

Saying that all the Democrats on stage support universal pre-kindergarten care and bringing "a lot more revenue in this country” through closing loopholes, Booker said that, "I don’t agree with the wealth tax the way Elizabeth Warren puts it."

- John Fritze

Fact check: Ambassadors vs. donors

Elizabeth Warren said she hoped ambassadorships would no longer be handed out "to the highest bidder," a swipe at Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union who spent much of Wednesday testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.

Appointing donors as ambassadors is nothing new – Democratic presidents did it, too. But Trump has expanded the practice.

Roughly 44% of Trump's foreign service appointments are people with political ties, typically donors, compared with about 30% for President Barack Obama, according to the American Foreign Service Association.

Sondland gave $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.

"What you get probably varies based on what you want," said Robert Weissman, president of the watchdog group Public Citizen. "These kinds of donations were absolutely intended to pave the way to get an ambassadorship."

- John Fritze

Impeachment talk right out of the gate

The first question dived into the ongoing impeachment inquiry, with Warren being asked how she will try to convince her Republican colleagues to remove President Donald Trump if he is impeached by the House.

“The obvious answer is to say, `First, read the Mueller report,’” Warren said. Because Congress failed to act on that report, she said, Trump felt free to break the law again.

Then Warren quickly pivoted to a key campaign theme of hers, corruption.

“How did Ambassador (Gordon) Sondland get there?” she asked of Trump’s ambassador to the European Union whose dramatic testimony today of a “quid pro quo” implicated top White House officials. Sondland gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee.

Warren said Sondland is an example of how money buys its way into Washington and, as president, she won’t give away ambassadorships “to the highest bidder.”

- Maureen Groppe

They're off

The Democratic presidential debate in Atlanta is under way.

Ten candidates will be seeking to differentiate themselves and break through hours of impeachment inquiry hearings earlier Wednesday. And that is the first question going to the candidates.

-- John Fritze

What’s the format?

After October’s three-hour debate, tonight’s two-hour version may fly by. The candidates won’t be giving opening statements and will have only about one minute at the end to make a final pitch.

Tonight’s questioners are an all-female panel of journalists: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell join forces with Kristen Welker, NBC News’ chief foreign affairs correspondent and Ashley Parker, a White House reporter for The Washington Post.

POLITICO and PBS NewsHour are sponsoring the next debate on Dec. 19. The Democratic National Committee has been ratcheting up the fundraising and polling levels that candidates must achieve to participate.

- Maureen Groppe

Protesters gather outside the debate studios

Although there are 10 candidates on stage, only three had a major presence outside Tyler Perry Studios.

At least two dozen supporters of Pete Buttigieg held pickets with his campaign sign, at times chanting “PETE FOR PRES.”

The Yang Gang was also out in full force. A huge fluorescent “MATH” sign was posted up and a man on stilts was walking around holding two large fans that said “ANDREW YANG.” At times the group of supporters would chant some of Yang’s signature phrases like “POWERPOINT.”

A group of Joe Biden supporters also represented the former Vice President. They would wave signs as cars passed by to enter Tyler Perry Studios.

The largest groups outside the studios though were not for candidates, they were advocating for two different policies.

A large group of advocates protested against family separation at the border and advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. The demonstrators held banners that send “End Deportations” and “Chinga la migra.”

There were also demonstrators, who were mostly people color, advocating for charter schools. A marching band for KIPP Academy, a local charter school, marched in front of the gates of Tyler Perry Studios to advocate for charter schools.

- Rebecca Morin

The three things to expect tonight

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is likely to get extra attention from both moderators and his fellow competitors because of his recent rise in the polls in New Hampshire and Iowa. He’s leading the field in the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa poll.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren can expect to be quizzed on her recent backing of a glide path into Medicare for All, a step she took after attacks from Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden that people shouldn’t be forced onto one government-run plan.

Biden, who entered the race as the frontrunner, will be under pressure to show he can live up to that expectation. Unease about his performance so far is one reason why former Massachusetts Gov. Patrick Deval recently entered the race and why former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering it.

- Maureen Groppe

How they're spending their ad money

One candidate has been popping up on the television screens of early voting states a lot more than the others: Billionaire activist Tom Steyer.

The $13 million he spent on advertising in the past month accounts for more than 50% of the total amount of advertising from all the candidates – including President Donald Trump, according to an analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project released Wednesday.

“Residents of early voting states are seeing many more television ads from presidential candidates this cycle than they did in the 2016 presidential race, and the reason can be summed up in one word: Steyer,” said Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project.

What Steyer says: Tom Steyer shares his views on current issues

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock made their first ad buys in the past month.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, also recently ramped up their spending.

Buttigieg’s recent surge in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire corresponds with his increased spending on both TV and digital ads, said Travis Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project.

“While it’s not possible to attribute the surge entirely to his ad spending, it has certainly played some role in his recent success,” Ridout said. “A strong debate performance tonight, combined with continued heavy ad spending, could help cement his place in the top tier of Democratic candidates.”

The number of ads that have run is way up from a comparable point in the 2016 presidential race. One difference, however, is fewer ads are being paid for by outside groups. Candidates may have done so well at raising money from small-dollar donors that they haven’t needed the support of political action committees that can collect large sums from wealthy donors, said Michael Franz, another co-director of the project.

“Moreover,” he said, “many large-dollar donors may still be waiting out this race to see which horse to bet on.”

- Maureen Groppe

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MSNBC Democratic debate: Candidates agreed on impeaching Trump