Bloomberg made his first-ever democratic debate appearance last night, and the five other candidates came in hot against their new target.
Here are some of the night’s fiercest moments between the democratic rivals:
Bloomberg came out swinging against Bernie, the candidate currently leading in the polls. He quipped, “What a wonderful country we have. The best-known socialist in the company happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?”
Sanders replied, saying, “You missed that I work in Washington.”
Bloomberg cut in and said, “That’s the first problem.”
Sanders didn’t back down, replying, “I do have a summer cabin. Forgive me for that. Where is your home?”
“New York City, thank you very much,” Bloomberg replied. “And I pay all my taxes. And I’m happy to do it because I get something for it.”
Another heated moment between Sanders and Bloomberg involved Sanders pointing out that he wasn’t the only one who had undergone heart surgery.
“I think the one area, maybe, that Mayor Bloomberg and I shared, you have two stents as well,” said Sanders to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg agreed, saying, “25 years ago.”
“Well, we both have two stents. It’s a procedure that is done about a million times a year,” said Sanders, who said that numerous physicians have attested to his health. “Hey, follow me around the campaign–three, four, five events a day, see how you’re doing compared to me.”
Related: Bernie Sanders Wins Primary, Andrew Yang Calls It Quits
Earlier in the debate, Sanders pointed out that even though a poll released by NBC News/Wall Street Journal that showed two-thirds of voters aren’t comfortable with a socialist candidate for President, he was the preferred candidate in that same poll with a double-digit national lead.
“Let’s talk about democratic socialism,” said Sanders. “We are living in many ways in a socialist society right now. The problem is, as Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us, ‘We have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.”
After applause rang out, Sanders continued, saying, “When Donald Trump gets $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury condominiums, that’s socialism for the rich. We have to subsidize Walmart’s workers on Medicaid and food stamps because the wealthiest family in America pays starvation wages.”
“That’s socialism for the rich,” said Sanders. “I believe in Democratic socialism for working people. Not billionaires. Health care for all, educational opportunity for all.”
Related: Bernie Sanders Wants Debt Relief for ALL Student Loans, Currently At $1.6 Trillion
Sanders wasn’t the only candidate standing up to Bloomberg. Warren was quick to attack Bloomberg over the way he allegedly treated women in his company, and his refusal to release those women from a non-disclosure agreement.
When asked about the complaints women have made against him over the years, Bloomberg said,
“I have no tolerance for the kind of behavior the #MeToo movement has exposed. Anybody that does anything wrong in our company, we investigate it, and if it’s inappropriate, they’re gone that day.”
Warren quipped back, “You heard his defense was: ‘I’ve been nice to some women.’ That just doesn’t cut it. What we need to know is exactly what’s lurking out there. He has gotten some number of women–dozens, who knows?–to sign nondisclosure agreements both for sexual harassment and for gender discrimination in the workplace.
“So, Mr. Mayor,” she asked. “Are you willing to release all of those women from those nondisclosure agreements so we can hear their side of the story?”
The audience cheered, and Bloomberg stumbled, “We have a very few nondisclosure agreements,” with Warren interjecting, “How many is that?”
Bloomberg didn’t answer at first, but then said that none of the women “accuse me of doing anything other than, maybe, they didn’t like a joke I told.”
The audience jeered in response.
Warren also challenged Bloomberg to “issue a real apology” over the stop-and-frisk procedure he was in support of that disproportionately affected male African Americans.
“If you want to issue a real apology, then the apology has to start with the intent of the plan as it was put together, and the willful ignorance day by day by day of admitting what was happening even as people protested in your even street, shutting out the sounds of people telling you how your own policy was breaking their lives. You need a different apology here, Mr. Mayor.”
Related: Shocking Bloomberg Audio: Billionaire Democratic Candidate Makes Racist Claims
Warren went in even deeper, saying, “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.
“Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist policies like redlining and stop and frisk. Look, I’ll support whoever the Democratic nominee is, but understand this: Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.”
Amy Klobuchar agreed, saying, “I think we need something different than Donald Trump. I don’t think you look at Donald Trump and say, ‘We need somebody richer in the White House.'”
Buttigieg pointed out Bloomberg’s Republican roots, saying, “Let’s put forward somebody who actually lives and who works in a middle-class neighborhood in an industrial Midwestern city. Let’s put forward someone who’s actually a Democrat.”
Buttigieg also suggested the Bloomberg wanted to “buy this party out,” saying, “We can do better.”
Joe Biden piled on, adding, “The mayor says that he has a great record. The fact of the matter is, he has not managed his city very well when he was there. He didn’t get a lot done. He has stop and frisk, throwing close to 5 million young black men up against a wall.”
Related: Bloomberg Caught Supporting ‘Stop and Frisk’ in Resurfaced 2015 Audio Clip
When questioned about why he hasn’t released his tax returns ahead of voting that started earlier this month, Bloomberg said that he’d get to work on tax preparation and release his returns… eventually.
“It just takes us a long time. Fortunately, I make a lot of money and we do business all around the world and we are preparing it. The number of pages will probably be in the thousands of pages. I can’t go to Turbo Tax,” said Bloomberg.
“They’ll be out in a few weeks and that’s as fast as I can do it. Remember, I only entered into this race 10 weeks ago. All my associates here have been at this for a couple of years.”
Warren retorted, telling Bloomberg to “pay overtime and get it done!,” to which Bloomberg replied, “I wish it were that simple.”
Related: Trump in Trouble? Leaked Tax Records Reveal Trump Didn’t Pay Taxes, Had Over $1 Billion in Losses
