Bernie Sanders accuses Mike Bloomberg of trying to buy election
High poll numbers qualify former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg for his first Democratic presidential debate; Peter Doocy reports from Las Vegas.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has become an icon among progressives for waging a battle against the "millionaires and billionaires," but he hedged when asked Tuesday night about accepting campaign contributions from billionaire Michael Bloomberg if he were to win the nomination.
Sanders initially was asked at a televised town hall in Las Vegas, Nev., if he would support Bloomberg, whom he accused of "buying" the election, if he were to become the Democrats' nominee.
"I think I can speak for all the other Democratic candidates... and that is, on day one when I announced my candidacy, I said that obviously, we are going to do everything we can to win, but if I did not win the nomination, I would support vigorously the candidate who won, because Donald Trump must be defeated," Sanders said.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper followed by pressing Sanders if he would accept "$500 million" in help from Bloomberg if he were to defeat the billionaire during the primary.
"Well, what I did say is that if Mr. Bloomberg wins, and I certainly hope he does not, I will support the Democratic nominee," Sanders reiterated. "As of right now, we don't have a super PAC, we're not asking for a super PAC, that is my position right now."
"So, you're not sure if you would take the money or not," Cooper grilled Sanders, who remained silent.
"Okay, I'll leave it there," Cooper jokingly added, sparking laughs from the audience.
Sanders then broke his silence.
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"Let me just answer -- I don't think we're gonna need that money because, interestingly enough, I think when you have an agenda as we have that speaks to the need of working families, you're going to have millions and millions and millions of people chipping in ten bucks apiece, 50 bucks apiece, and that's how you're going to raise the money you'll need to defeat Trump," the 2020 frontrunner said.
"We will have enough money to run a strong campaign. We will have enough money to defeat Donald Trump."
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