In a personal assembly in 2018 between Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Mr. Sanders mentioned that
In a personal assembly in 2018 between Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Mr. Sanders mentioned that he didn’t suppose a girl may win the presidency, in accordance with two folks acquainted with the dialogue.
Ms. Warren subsequently advised associates about Mr. Sanders’s remark, in accordance with folks with data of her remarks.
Mr. Sanders on Monday vehemently denied making the comment, which was first reported by CNN.
“It’s unhappy that, three weeks earlier than the Iowa caucus and a 12 months after that personal dialog, employees who weren’t within the room are mendacity about what occurred,” Mr. Sanders mentioned in a press release, including that it was “ludicrous” to suppose he would have made such a remark. “Do I imagine a girl can win in 2020? After all! In any case, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by three million votes in 2016.”
Mr. Sanders added that he had advised Ms. Warren “that Donald Trump is a sexist, a racist and a liar who would weaponize no matter he may.”
The Warren marketing campaign declined to touch upon Monday.
Ms. Warren has spent a lot of the marketing campaign praising Mr. Sanders or aligning herself with him on some insurance policies, together with common medical health insurance, however tensions between their two campaigns have elevated in current days because the Iowa caucuses neared.
The folks acquainted with the 2018 assembly, who have been briefed on it shortly after it passed off however weren’t licensed to talk publicly, mentioned Mr. Sanders provided the remark whereas giving his evaluation on the approaching race. In relaying to Ms. Warren the challenges he thought her marketing campaign would face, he not solely mentioned that President Trump would weaponize sexism, but in addition that such assaults would preclude a girl from being elected, in accordance with the non-public accounts.
Larry Cohen, a longtime pal and adviser to Mr. Sanders, mentioned that Mr. Sanders had advised him in regards to the assembly after it occurred and that he didn’t imagine the report.
“The whole lot I find out about Bernie Sanders for 30 years tells me he would by no means communicate like that, not to mention to a girl he admires tremendously,” Mr. Cohen mentioned.
The existence of the assembly has been public since shortly after it occurred in December 2018. The New York Occasions reported shortly after the meeting took place that Ms. Warren had sought it “as a courtesy,” and that neither occasion had tried to realize the opposite’s assist or discourage the opposite from operating. However the two senators have been the one folks within the room, and all reviews of what was mentioned have been secondhand.
Requested final March whether or not Mr. Sanders had urged her to not run, Ms. Warren mentioned, “Bernie and I had a personal dinner, and my view is that dinner stays non-public.”
For months, Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders, essentially the most distinguished progressive candidates within the presidential race, abided by a tacit nonaggression pact. However that pact has begun to fray.
Over the weekend, Politico reported on a script distributed to volunteers for the Sanders marketing campaign that advised telling backers of Ms. Warren to assist Mr. Sanders as an alternative. “The individuals who assist her are extremely educated, extra prosperous people who find themselves going to indicate up and vote Democratic it doesn’t matter what,” the script mentioned. “She’s bringing no new bases into the Democratic Get together.”
Responding to the leaked script, Ms. Warren said that Mr. Sanders had been “sending his volunteers out to trash me.”
She urged in opposition to repeating the “factionalism” seen amongst Democrats through the 2016 major, wherein Mr. Sanders confronted off in opposition to Mrs. Clinton. “We will’t have a repeat of that,” she mentioned. “Democrats have to unite our occasion and meaning pulling in all components of the Democratic coalition.”
Mr. Sanders mentioned that he had by no means personally attacked Ms. Warren, and that each campaigns had a whole bunch of staff, who “typically say issues that they shouldn’t.”
Democracy for America, a distinguished progressive group, expressed alarm on Monday on the rising tensions.
“You each are progressive champs & our motion must see you working collectively to defeat your company Dem opponents — not assault one another,” the group tweeted. “Progressives will win in 2020, however provided that we don’t let the company wing or Trump divide us.”
Sydney Ember and Maggie Astor contributed reporting.