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Democratic debate: Clinton and Sanders square off in Brooklyn – live
Democratic debate: Clinton and Sanders spar over $15 minimum wage – live
(35 minutes later)
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Navy yard debate set to float
Guns.
Break a bottle on the bow – this debate is about to begin, at 9pm ET (if CNN is to be believed, which, sometimes they’ve fudged the start time). If you’re just joining us, welcome to our live blog coverage of the ninth Democratic presidential debate, staging here in Brooklyn just five days before New York state holds its primary.
Clinton is asked whether she blames Vermont for New York’s gun violence.
To break through to New York Democrats who may long ago have decided to support Hillary Clinton, the former home-state senator, Bernie Sanders may need to go at Clinton directly, perhaps along the lines of attack he’s been trying out on the campaign trail: she takes money from banks and she’s a longtime member of the corrupt political class.
“Of course not,” Clinton says. “This is a serious difference between us,” she says.
As the frontrunner, Clinton may not need to counterattack so much as to parry Sanders without losing her balance and saying anything that could alienate voters already in her corner (see: Clinton, Bill). But Hillary Clinton has shown an appetite to scrap in the last weeks and there’s no reason to believe she’ll leave it home tonight.
Sanders chuckles in anticipation.
After New York falls on Tuesday, a string of primaries in northeastern states will lead the race to Indiana and then in a headlong rush toward California on 7 June and the nomination. We’re almost there, faithful readers – so, who do you think will turn in the stronger performance tonight? What are you looking to hear? Whom are you rooting for?
“This is not a laughing matter,” she says. And unloads on him. “I take it very seriously because I have spent too much time with families...
Thanks for reading and, as always, don’t be shy: join the fun in the comments!
“What we have here is a big difference,” Clinton says.
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Megan Carpentier
Sanders is just hammering Clinton for asserting that she has always been for a $15/hr minimum wage. “I think secretary Clinton is confusing a lot of people,” he says.
Just over seven years ago, Marcelo Lucero was attacked by seven teenagers in Patchogue, NY and stabbed to death on the street as the teens reportedly yelled “Fucking Mexicans. Fucking illegals”.
Now it’s on to guns.
Attacking Latinos was allegedly a regular sport to the local high schoolers, who apparently didn’t know or care that Lucero and the friend who was attacked with him was Ecuadorian; Lucero was the only Latino that the teens killed in their spree of violence.
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On Thursday, locals - including many clergy from Long Island and a group of immigrants from Queens – gathered to memorialize Lucero and call for the village to install a memorial on the spot. Two blocks away at a local night club, almost visible from the spot where Lucero died, hundreds of supporters gathered to see Donald Trump speak. Some of them carried anti-immigrant signs, waving them as traffic passed by.
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At the vigil for Marcelo Lucero, who was killed in a hate crime in Patchogue, NY where Trump is holding a rally. pic.twitter.com/QlXv2EBKPK
Sanders: 'History outpaced Clinton' on fight for $15
As member after member of the clergy took to the microphone on the windswept corner of Railroad Ave and Funaro Street, trains passed by and a helicopter slowly circling over head. Participants were called upon to pray, asked to join in with a rendition of Amazing Grace and called upon to approach their neighbors with love and compassion, not hatred.
Clinton now on jobs. “I do have a very comprehensive plan.. I think it is important that we do more on manufacturing. ..” She says as secretary of state she increased exports.
The bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Long Island, Reverend Lawrence C Provenzano, told the crowd that it wasn’t Trump who could lead to a new American day: “God’s love and God’s peace will make America great again”, he promised.
“You’ve got to go at this with a sense of how to accomplish the goals we are setting.”
Mourners march from the spot where Marcelo Lucero died towards the Trump rally, TV trucks visible. pic.twitter.com/uhzcnHqCRB
They’ve relaxed in their attack postures, a bit. Although Sanders is pep-pep-peppy about making a point on the tail of Clinton’s latest.
At the end, vigil-goers gathered around a portrait of Lucero, as his brother Josello – teary-eyed – thanked them for remembering his brother and for coming out year after year. Josello Lucero, who speaks about anti-immigrant violence at schools around the area and started a scholarship in his brother’s name, began to hug friends that he recognized as a group of young immigrants unfurled a banner and walked up the block towards the Trump rally, where the towers from the satellite trucks were visible.
Another Q for Clinton: Why don’t you support a $15 minimum wage?
They stood as a silent rebuke to Trump and his followers who, at that point, were all comfortably inside the Emporium nightclub where the topic was reportedly bringing jobs back to Long Island.
She says she’d sign a $15/hr law and she’s been supported by unions in the fight for $15.
Sanders gets off a doozy: I bet a lot of people would be surprised to hear that Clinton supported $15! he says.
Then they argue over one another.
Blitzer with a classic: “If you’re both screaming at each other, the viewers won’t be able to hear either of you.”
Secretary Clinton said let’s raise it to $12. There’s a difference. What’s happened is that history has outpaced secretary Clinton.
Big, big, applause for Sanders.
Clinton again asserts she supported the Fight for $15. She’s kind of booed. “IT happens to be true,” she says, rather pitifully.
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She’s been at this awhile:
Sanders is asked a macroecon 101 question. How do you bring jobs back without raising prices?
#TBT to Hillary in a 2000 debate. Tune in for tonight's #DemDebate at 9:00 p.m. ET.https://t.co/CvuiR7bfch
He’d raise the minimum wage, he’d say. Then he starts trashing trade agreements.
Sanders tweets about the Tuesday vote:
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New York – the entire country will be watching as the results come in on Tuesday. Commit to vote for Bernie today: https://t.co/a0oGdtKUBz
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Sanders is asked about the CEO of Verizon calling his views “contemptible” for his support of communications workers in their strike against the company.
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“I would tell the gentleman... to start negotiating with the communication workers of America. And this is a perfect example.. of the kind of corporate greed that is destroying the middle class. This gentleman makes $18m. That’s his salary... he is not investing in the way he should.
The Guardian’s Jana Kasperkevic has been following Fight for $15 protesters on a march across midtown to the GOP gala (see earlier dispatches here). After hours of protesting on an increasing chilly night, many of the marchers have dispersed, Jana reports.
Sanders is asked: could he promote American business, given his contempt for corporations?
Most of the crowd has dispersed. But a small crowd right in front of Cipriani's is kind of slowing down the traffic on sidewalk
Sanders denies “contempt”. There are great businesses, Sanders says. “Verizon isn’t one of them.”
Between 8-8.30pm, Jana writes, most of the crowd outside the Grant Hyatt dispersed with just a few dozen protesters remaining. While the New York GOP finance chair said that ten protesters were arrested, an NYPD spokesman told the Guardian that since the event was still ongoing he was unable to confirm any numbers.
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Despite standing out for hours, the protesters did not catch a glimpse of Donald Trump, whom they have spent the evening protesting.
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What it looks like now https://t.co/urhKpwVGwj
Clinton runs from question about speech transcripts
Clinton takes a question about speeches to Goldman Sachs. Why not just release those transcripts?
Clinton says there isn’t an issue. “I did stand up to the banks. I did make it clear that their behavior would not be excused.... if you’re going to look at the problems that actually caused the great recession, you’ve got to looks at the full picture.”
She is ignoring the question.
But what about the transcripts? Dana Bash asks.
She’s cheered for pressing the question.
Clinton: “There are certain expectations when you run for president. This is a new one... but I will tell you this, there is a longstanding expectation that everybody running release their tax returns.”
She’s booed. She refuses to answer the question.
Clinton: “Let’s set the same standard for everybody. When everybody does it, I will do it, thank you.”
Sanders pounces: “Secretary Clinton, you just heard her....
“I am going to release all of the transcripts of speeches on Wall St I gave behind closed doors. Not for $200,000, not for $200, not for two cents. There were no speeches!”
Big cheers.
Sanders says he’ll release his tax returns too, that his wife Jane does the taxes and there’s not much there there.
Wolf Blitzer pushes him: What’s taking so long?
Sanders says he’s been campaigning.
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Here’s a taste of some of the peppery rhetoric in the Democratic campaign in the days leading up to tonight’s debate:
Sanders mocks Clinton. “Senator Clinton called them out,” he says, rolling his eyes by waving his hands. “Oh my goodness. They must have been really crushed by this. And was that before or after you received huge sums of money by giving speaking engagements?”
Sanders v Clinton: war of words ahead of New York primary – video
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Sanders: Clinton is not qualified to be president
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Clinton: ‘I’m sick of Sanders’ campaign’s lies’
Clinton starts to speak and is immediately cheered.
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She smiles. “I love being in Brooklyn. This is great,” she says.
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Then she calls for penalizing bank executives, not just the institutions, affected by too big to fail.
Chocolate elephants and spirited protests at GOP gala
Sanders gets a tough question. What did Clinton do as a senator that showed banks had influence on her?
Alan Yuhas
He says, sure, I can do that. The obvious response to the Great Recession would have been to pass laws breaking up the banks. Sanders introduced such legislation. And Clinton?
On the inside of the Republican dinner, where seats cost $1,000 a plate, donors are entering the ballroom to find plates of chocolate and strawberry elephants waiting for them, writes the Guardian’s Alan Yuhas:
“Secretary Clinton was busy giving speeches to Goldman Sachs for $250,000 a speech,” Sanders says. That line is cheered.
Chocolate and strawberry elephants at the Republican dinner for $1,000 a seat. pic.twitter.com/nqx1gmvhxT
But Clinton’s reply is cheered much more loudly.
The event is off to a late start because of security concerns: dozens of NYPD and secret service officers are roaming the halls and putting guests and press through long security check points.
“He cannot come up with any example because there is no example.” “I stood up to the behavior of the banks when I was a senator,” she asserts.
While reporters were lined up awaiting their own turn through the metal detectors, a band of protesters broke out of the elevators in their hallway and pushed through to the barrier overlooking the lobby.
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With a banner declaring Republicans ‘the party of hate’ and shouting ‘presente!’ they called out various groups to rally against the conservative party: black Americans, Hispanic Americans, gay Americans.
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Within minutes secret service and hotel security also swept into the already crowded hallway, grabbing the banner of a protester who leaned over the balcony and pulling him back from the edge. More agents arrived to corral the protesters in a circle of linked arms, the amorphous security bubble forcing its way out from the crowd of reporters and off to the lobby.
Sanders is asked why he would ask banks to break themselves up – he described such a solution in the Daily News interview, saying he would not swing the axe but would take the banks’ advisement.
Then it was back to quiet and waiting for entry to the ballroom and speeches by John Kasich, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
Sanders says “I don’t need Dodd-Frank to tell me” the banks are too big to fail, because the banks are “based on fraudulent principles.” “We need to break them up.”
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Sanders is pressed on how involved the banks would be in their demise.
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“What the government should say... the banks themselves can figure out what they want to sell off. I don’t believe it’s appropriate for the department of treasury to make those decisions,” he says.
What’s the state of the race? Hillary Clinton is ahead and it would take a major acceleration by Bernie Sanders to catch her.
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Sanders is estimated to need to capture 56% of all remaining delegates to win the nomination. His supporters might point out he won the last eight states. Her supporters might point out those were demographically favorable to him and included a lot of caucuses and she now appears poised to go on a streak of her own. His supporters might point out that her delegate lead is a lot smaller if you subtract superdelegates. Her supporters might reply that it’s still a lead, it’s growing and by the way she leads by over 2m popular votes too.
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You get the idea. Below is a chart comparing the candidates’ delegate riches – and for state-by-state hauls, visit our comprehensive delegate tracker here.
Pretty hot debate so far. They aren’t playing particularly nice. More like playing to win.
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Clinton is talking about a need to introduce stronger banking regulation because “we will not let Wall st wreck Main st again.”
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She says she’ll move immediately to break up any financial institution that poses a threat.
The question this direly worded fundraising email from the Republican National Committee elides is: what if Bernie Sanders is the nominee?
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Pretty grim and fatalistic fundraising email from the RNC pic.twitter.com/EzscEuLvPB
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Clinton has a pretty solid reply to the attack on super Pacs: “This is an attack on President Obama,” who used them but then supported Dodd-Frank.
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“This is a phony attack that is designed to raise questions when there is no evidence or support to undergird” the insinuations, she says.
A battle to cheer loudest outside debate
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Lauren Gambino
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Outside the Navy Yard in advance of the debate, two groups of Hillary Clinton supporters and volunteers volleyed chants from either side of the fortress-style entrance, writes the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino:
Clinton says Sanders had called her unqualified. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. That was a first.”
Yards away, a less organized rally for Bernie Sanders drew honks from a fleet of cars with the group, Black Men for Bernie.
As for her judgment, she says, the people of New York elected her twice and president Obama picked her to be secretary of state.
Entourage of Black Men for Bernie cars. pic.twitter.com/e1nwFcuK3b
Then Clinton hits Sanders pretty hard, bringing up his 1 April NY Daily News interview in which he said he wasn’t sure about the president’s authority to name banks as too big to fail. She refers to “The kinds of problems he had answering questions about his core issues.”
On the Clinton side, Jenniece Centrella wore a Hillary campaign button pinned to her beanie. Centrella, an architect who lives in Brooklyn, said she’s worried New York voters might get complacent after multiple polls showed Clinton winning her adopted home state by a wide margin.
“Let’s talk about judgment,” Sanders hits back. He says the Iraq war was the worst foreign policy blunder in the recent history of the United States. He says her use of super Pacs showed bad judgment.
Jenniece Centrella says she's voting for the most "qualified" candidate in the race pic.twitter.com/NQvqbznduP
“In America we should be thinking big not small,” he says, and calls for universal health care.
“We don’t just need to do well, we need to do really well,” she said, shouting over a campaign volunteer banging a plastic cone. “She’s up by over 2 million popular votes. She deserves this. We need a big win in New York.”
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On the other side, Jessiah Cox, waved a sign that said “Brooklyn is Berning” and “Talk Bernie to me”.
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At just 16, Cox is not eligible to vote in this presidential election, but he still wants to have his say.
First Q is for Sanders. He’s challenged Clinton’s qualifications and credibility. Does she have judgment to be president?
“This election is gonna affect my future,” he said. “That’s why I’m here at this rally. I want to be a part of electing the president.”
Sanders: I’ve known her 25 years. That was a response to Clinton campaign attacks. That’s what Does secretary Clinton have the experience and intelligence to be a president? Of course she does. But I do question her judgment.”
At 16, Jessiah Cox can't vote yet but that doesn't mean he can't have a say! pic.twitter.com/3d0wmek0TX
He mentions her vote for Iraq and trade agreements. “And I question her judgment about running super Pacs collecting tens of millions from special interests.”
Cox attended Sanders’s rally in Washington Square Park last night, and said he left inspired.
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“He’s so genuine,” Cox gushed. “As a young black man, I feel he’s the one who will genuinely help us.”
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Opening statements
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Bernie Sanders: Thanks everyone. A year ago we were at 3%. Now a couple polls have us ahead. We won eight of the last nine contests (big cheers: a Sanders crowd?). We got 7m individual contributions averaging $27 apiece (the crowd chants along). We’re doing something very radical: we’re telling the American people the truth (more big cheers). Citizens United bad; campaign finance reform needed; rigged economy bad.
Hello, and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the ninth Democratic presidential debate. Tonight your blog is parked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard – building 269 to be precise – and as obsolete shipyards go, it’s a beaut:
Lots of Sanders love in the hall.
Good place for a debate. pic.twitter.com/N5nBYPkTnf
Hillary Clinton: It’s great to be here (whoop-whoop cheers. Maybe the crowd is just hyper). I was honored to be a senator for eight years (yay!) and we faced challenges including 9/11. I was concerned about first responders. We helped Buffalo and Albany win jobs. We worked hard to “really keep New York values at the center of who we are.” “We will celebrity our diversity. We will work together.” Big, bold, progressive goals.
They made ships here for 150 years, and if the business at hand were not to keep up with the cut and thrust onstage, we couldn’t see not taking up the local site guide on its invitation to visit the dry dock that has been in operation since before the civil war or the 24-acre navy hospital campus “that is virtually frozen in time”. Definitely the coolest debate venue since they parked that Air Force One behind the stage at the Reagan Library.
She’s full of energy tonight. New York just does it to a person. Everybody’s jazzzed.
Which candidate will leave here with full sails? (Boats built here must not have unfurled until they got south of the harbor, but you catch the drift.) Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton are scheduled to take the stage at 9pm ET.
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Much is being made of a supposed uptick in the rhetorical temper of the race in the weeks before the New York primary on Tuesday. There was a kerfuffle about who’s qualified to be president, Sanders has been hitting Clinton for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches to banks [Clarification: that’s per speech], and Clinton has gone after Sanders on guns and foreign policy acumen.
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We may be imagining it, but the last two dozen or so times we did this, counting the Republican ones, the action on stage has seemed to have a way of failing to live up to the pre-bout hype. (One memorable exception being Marco Rubio’s last couple debates, in which he and Ted Cruz took turns throwing haymakers at Donald Trump.)
Wolf Blitzer of CNN is laying out ground rules. Errol Louis of NY1 and Dana Bash of CNN will help him ask questions.
That’s not to downplay the significance of what we could see tonight. According to most counters and analysts, if Sanders doesn’t break through in New York next week, he could slide and bump through a thicket of upcoming north-eastern states – Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Connecticut – without gaining the traction he needs to challenge the frontrunner for the nomination.
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So it’s Sanders’ night to make an irresistible case and Clinton’s night to control the lead she has long enjoyed. Thank you for following along here, and as usual, please jump into the comments with the full force of your insight, wit and wisdom.
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Now if you’ll excuse us for a moment ...
Here they are: the candidates take the stage. The crowd is excited. There’s going to be a national anthem. Here’s Morgan James from Broadway to sing it.
Will not abandon #DemDebate duties ... pic.twitter.com/JMqDKhYlzo
Got to meet and chat with @donnabrazile at @CNN headquarters here at the debate. The day keeps getting better! pic.twitter.com/AeRtMnANeF
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How’s she doing? Here comes the high part. O’er the la-and of the fuh-ree-ee-ee! Crosshairs. She nailed it.
