In an exclusive interview with CBS News Campaign Reporter Zak Hudak, Senator Elizabeth Warren doubled down on her position that she did not mislead the public with her campaign speech about being shown the door by her first boss after she got pregnant with her first child.
“I was six months pregnant, 22 years old. The job was mine and it was taken away,” she said. Warren’s trail story about getting pregnant in 1971 came under scrutiny after a 2007 interview resurfaced in which she seemingly said she had left the teaching job to take additional courses.
Warren told CBS News she was in fact rehired that spring and her certificate extended to the following year, and documents from the time confirm that story. But they also say Warren resigned that summer. Asked by CBS News whether she was asked to resign or fired when her job was taken away, Warren said, “It doesn’t matter what the term is, but let’s be clear. I was six months pregnant, it was my first job, I was 22-years-old and a job that was mine — a job I was hired for for the next year — was taken away when they knew I was pregnant.”
News outlets have pointed to the documents as proof Warren misrepresented the story. But she told CBS News that when she said the principal “showed me the door,” she was telling the full truth. Asked whether news outlets that reported earlier that she was in fact fired from the job were wrong, she said, “I don’t know what else you would call it.”
Warren also recommitted to her pledge not to hold large-dollar fundraising events even if she is the Democratic nominee and can’t match President Trump’s rapid fundraising. Asked about the Trump campaign and RNC’s unmatched third quarter fundraising haul, Warren said to hold large-dollar fundraisers would be counter to the message of her campaign.
“No, I will not be forced to make changes in how I raise money. Look, to me this is pretty straightforward,” she told CBS News. “Either you think democracy works and electing a president is all about going behind closed doors with bazillionaires, corporate executives and lobbyists, and scooping up as much money as possible. Or you think it’s about a grassroots. Let’s build this from the ground up.”
Warren also took aim at Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Northern Syria. “Donald Trump produces chaos every day. But particularly now with Syria. I don’t think anyone could describe what our policy is towards Syria,” she told CBS News. “I want to get our troops out of the middle east but we need to do it in a way that’s smarter than that.”
FROM THE CANDIDATES
JOE BIDEN
Even as Joe Biden is playing a starring role in the House impeachment inquiry into the president, his campaign is trying to keep the focus on kitchen-table issues. CBS News Campaign Reporter Bo Erickson notes that within 12 hours last night the campaign was messaging on both new policies and combating Trump:
- 5:31 p.m. ET Monday: Announced their “Women for Biden” initiative, comprised mostly of already-announced female supporters “to recruit and rally voters around Joe Biden’s transformative message of unity and his strong record fighting for women’s health care, economic security, safety, and a bright future for American families.”
- 6:20 p.m.: Almost a full day after Mr. Trump announced the withdrawal of forces in Syria, the campaign put out a statement from the former vice president saying Mr. Trump “has never had a strategy for Syria — just a series of impulses.”
- 6:45 p.m.: “In Here,” a new campaign web video with several Trump clips was published that ponders if Americans will let their votes be “dishonor[ed]” by Mr. Trump.
- 5:35 a.m. ET Tuesday: Unveiled “The Biden Plan for Education Beyond High School” with the help of Dr. Jill Biden, a dedicated community college professor, aimed at strengthening the middle class by investing in more educational opportunities. The plan‘s highlights include: providing two years of free community college or other high-quality training program for all Americans; doubling the maximum value of Pell grants; building on Obama-era job training programs by investing $50 billion in high-quality job programs; and investing an additional $18 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions, with another $10 billion dedicating to research at these higher-ed institutions. DREAMers would receive these opportunities, as well.
Biden will be in New Hampshire on Wednesday and will likely face a barrage of additional questions related to the House impeachment inquiry. Will he continue to engage on how he personally is different from Trump or focus on new messaging on how, if elected, his policies would differ?
BERNIE SANDERS
For the first time since his heart attack last Thursday, Senator Bernie Sanders answered questions from the press.
CBS News Campaign Reporter Cara Korte says Sanders returned from his cardiologist this evening to tell press that he’s doing well, but did concede the need to scale back his schedule. “We’re gonna change the nature of the campaign a bit,” he said. When asked to elaborate, he added, “Probably not going four rallies a day.”
He also joked that the press will “see him now,” adding, “You’ll see me walking, you’ll see me running. You’ll see with my wife!” he exclaimed.
Until then, he said his main focus is “gaining his endurance back.” Asked if he thinks the heart attack will affect the way voters see him, the senator replied, “Everything that happens everyday weighs on how people feel about you.” He added his resume proves he’s worked for working families his whole career.
Sanders said that the incident has left him with more conviction than ever. “If I ever believed we need a political revolution, I believe it more today,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Sanders said, “I must confess that I was dumb.” Sanders said that in the weeks leading up to the attack, he was feeling particularly fatigued. “If there’s any message, it’s that I want people to listen to those symptoms,” he said. Korte says the senator was also asked about his medical records. He said that they would be released “at the appropriate time.” Also notable, the senator mentioned the rigorous campaign schedule he was holding — often traveling to four events a day — however now, post-op, he will have to make more frequent visits to Vermont, where his cardiologist is based.
ANDREW YANG
Andrew Yang is going to be on stage for the November Democratic presidential debate, says CBS News Political Unit Associate Producer Ben Mitchell. Yang cleared the polling threshold for the November debate Tuesday after he received 3% nationally in the latest Quinnipiac poll, giving him 3% or more in four qualifying polls. Yang’s campaign says it has more than 300,000 unique donors, well over the required 160,000.
EARLY STATES
DOWN SOUTH
On the heels of an anti-impeachment rally that Corey Lewandowski hosted in New Hampshire yesterday (see Monday’s edition of Daily Trail Markers on CBSN), Trump Victory and the South Carolina Republican Party hosted what they’ve dubbed a “counter-impeachment campaign event” as a part of the RNC’s national “Stop the Madness” campaign.
In a very brief address to 50 or so Trump supporters, CBS News Campaign Reporter LaCrai Mitchell says SCGOP Chairman Drew McKissick called for Rep. Joe Cunningham to “put politics aside” and get back to working on behalf of voters, during a press conference outside of Cunningham’s Mt. Pleasant office this afternoon. Cunningham is one of nine Democrats who has not definitively come out on a Trump impeachment push.
Mt. Pleasant resident John Marcoux, who attended the presser today, said that he is “outraged” with what Democrats are doing in terms of the impeachment inquiry and he wrote a letter to Cunningham to express his disdain. “Since your party has chosen to go full Machiavelli against our president, I am choosing to do the same,” said Marcoux. He then vowed that if Cunningham supports the impeachment effort, he would work day and night and donate everything that he could to make sure Cunningham is defeated in 2020.
OUT WEST
Nearly two dozen new presidential endorsements from Nevadans were announced Tuesday by the Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders campaigns, according to CBS News Campaign Reporter Alex Tin. A number of the latest Sanders backers are from Nevada’s medical community, including a nephrologist and medical students. And among a number of Silver State educators on Biden’s list is Ruben Murillo, former president of one of Nevada’s largest teachers unions.
CONGRESSIONAL COVERAGE
IN THE SENATE
The Senate Intelligence Committee is calling for immediate action to secure social media platforms from malicious foreign agents ahead of the next U.S. elections, reports CBS News Political Unit Associate Producer Ben Mitchell. In a bipartisan report, the panel called on Congress to pass tougher transparency laws for social media ad-buys so users can more clearly identify the parties paying for the ads that they see. Notably, the bipartisan group also found that Russian-backed actors “sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election by harming Hillary Clinton’s chances of success and supporting Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin.” Their conclusion stands in stark contrast to Mr. Trump and his allies’ claims that Russia did not try to help then-candidate Trump. The committee also asks the executive branch to “publicly reinforce the danger of attempted foreign interference in the 2020 election,” an ironic request considering the current impeachment inquiry and Mr. Trump’s public calls for foreign governments to investigate his political opponents.
IN OTHER NEWS
MINNEAPOLIS SHOWDOWN
The Trump campaign and the city of Minneapolis have engaged in a back and forth about security costs ahead of the president’s reelection rally scheduled for Thursday night at the city’s Target Center, reports CBS News Political Unit Associate Producer Ellee Watson. The government is asking the Trump campaign to pay $540,000 in total for additional public safety costs. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale accused Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of attempting to curtail voters’ first amendment rights to support Mr. Trump. Frey in a press conference on Tuesday said he is asking the Minneapolis broker AEG Management, which has the contract with the Trump campaign, to abide by the agreement to make sure associated costs with events as big as the Trump rally are covered. Lawyers for the Trump campaign threatened to take the Target Center to court for breach of contract if the rally does not proceed as scheduled. On Tuesday afternoon, the Trump campaign released a statement saying the Target Center backed off canceling the contract for the rally on Thursday, and the Trump campaign has not agreed to pay any additional funds.
